
Class 
Book 



COPYRICKT DEPOSIT 



MARKET STREET, PHILADELPHIA 



No. OF AN Edition 

Limited to Four Hdndhed Copies 



ws^^m 




MARKET STREET 

PHILADELPHIA 



The Most Historic Highway in America 
Its Merchants and Its Story 



By 

JOSEPH JACKSON 

Member of the American Historical Association, The Historical Society 
of Pennsylvania, City History Society of Philadelphia 



ILLUSTRATED 




PHILADELPHIA 

JOSEPH JACKSON 
1918 



CorvBioiiT 1914, 1015 

bv the plblic i.kdckb company 

Copyright 1018 

By Joseph V. A. Jackson 



AUG -I 1918 



I'BESS OF 

Pattebsos & White Co. 
©GL/. 51' 1346 Philadelphia. Pa.. V. S. A 



PREFACE 

No more was intended in this volume than to make a gossipy, 
topographical survey of the most historic highway in America. The 
word history has not been, applied to it because to have done this would 
justly incur the charge that it has not been presented in a scientific 
manner. It might also be urged that for a history the style is too 
familiar. 

Having written the story of Arch street and of its more important 
residents a few years ago, for the Sunday magazine of the Public 
Ledger, and the series having been favorably received, the writer was 
requested to apply the same kind of treatment to the history of another 
prominent thoroughfare, and this story of Market Street and Its Mer- 
chants was the result. Eun as a serial during many weeks in 1914 
and 1915, the object aimed at was to keep the interest alive by avoiding 
the inflexible style usually associated with a history, but at the same 
time to visit sources for the facts. 

In the main those sources have been the city directories and maps. 
Information has been kindly offered by many readers of the series, and 
while all the indebtedness to persons or volumes cannot be told in 
detail here, it will be found that in the majority of instances the source 
is mentioned where the facts are given. As the addition of notes 
would have destroyed the popular character of the work, they have 
been omitted. 

It is believed that in the Appendix the seekers of sites on Market 
street will find a useful guide ; and, in the illustrations what is informa- 



\' I Pbeface 

live has beeu atUiiiiod. While necessarily the subject has not been 
exhausted, it is hoped that enough of the notable past of the ancient 
highway has been told to give Philadolphians even more pride in their 
city, and to those readers who are not residents a new inspiration. 

Those who read the series when it was first published in the 
columns of the Public Ledger will note many additions and corrections 
in tlie text and that more than one-third of the illustrations are new. 

To the Public Ledger Company which has generously permitted 
tlie use of material contributed to its Sunday edition, acknowledgment 
of the courtesy is gratefully made. 

Joseph Jackson. 



ERRATA 

rage 1. line 3, omit first "of." 

Illustration, opposite page 16. for open halls, read open stalls. 

Illustration, opposite page 4.3. for northeast, read northwest. 

Page 49, line 30 for Armbruster. read Ainhrustcr. 

Page SS. In chapter heading, for Alfred read AVicrt. 

Page 114. line IS. for John, read Joseph. 

Illustration, opposite page 12R, first line, for right read left; second line, for 1832 read 8S2. 

Page 156, line 15, for panorama for, read panorama of. 

Page 1S3. line 2, for moving picture theatre, read modern business luilding. 

Page 197. third line from l>ottoni. for Captain Rni.vth. read Lieutenant Smyth. 



CONTENTS 

Chapter I 
The High Street, Ferries and River Front 1 

Chapter II 

Celebrities in the Neighborhood of Water Street — "Printing House 

Square, ' ' from Front Street to Second 9 

Chapter III 

Front Street to Second, continued — Penn's House in Letitia Court 
—The Town Hall, or Court House 17 

Chapter IV 

Second Street to Third — Bradford, Franklin, Cobbett and Their 
Circles 25 

Chapter V 

Second Street to Third, continued — Strawberry Street's Inhabi- 
tants — Samuel Archer 34 

Chapter VI 

From Third Street to Fourth — First Street Railway — Biddies, 
Wistars, and Col. Thomas Forrest 42 

Chapter VII 

Franklin and His Family in Franklin's Court — James "Wilson, 

William Goddard and the Baileys 51 

Chapter VIII 

Third Street to Fourth — Mathew Carey — Judge IngersoU and 

Other Residents 62 

VII 



^'ITT Contents 

Chapter IX 

Fourth and Market Streets — Publishers and Booksellers — A Few 

Old Inns — Kebecca Gratz — Dr. Caspar Wistar 68 

Cuapteb X 

Fourth Street to Fifth, continued — Colonel Shippen — Eliza Leslie 
—Thomas Sully 80 

Chapter XI 

Fifth Street to Sixth— Albert Newsam, the Deaf Mute Artiste 
The Pennsylvania Hospital 's Beginning — Colonel Bennett ... 88 

Chapter XII 

Fifth Street to Sixth— The Big Fire of 1856— Hudson's Block- 
Nathan Sellers — Freneau 95 

Chapter XIII 

Fifth Street to Sixth, continued — The Presidential Mansion and its 
Historic Occupants 102 

Chapter XIV 

Sixth Street to Seventh — Schuylkill Bank — John Wanamaker — 

Dr. Priestley, Robert Pine and Charles Biddle 109 

Chapter XV 

Seventh and Market Streets, Where Jefferson Wrote the Declara- 
tion of Independence 118 

Chapter XVI 

Seventh Street to Eighth — Governor Miflflin- Rawle — General Cad- 
walader — The Perots — Early Potteries 124 

Chapter XVII 

Eighth Street to Ninth — Western Terminus of the Market Sheds — 
The Seckels — Keely and His Motor— Carrying Mail in 1838 — 
Samuel Breck 132 

Chapter XVIII 

Eighth Street to Ninth, continued— Edmund Randolph— Israel 

Pemberton — Oliver Evans and His Steam Carriage, 1804 139 



Contents IX 

Chapter XIX 

Ninth Street to Eleventh — The President's House — Captain Abra- 
ham Markoe — Panoramas 146 

Chapter XX 

Eleventh Street to Twelfth and Twelfth Street to Thirteenth— John 
Dunlap's House and its Distinguished Occupants — Rickett's 
Circus— National Hall 158 

Chapter XXI 

Thirteenth Street to Broad — Freight Station of Pennsylvania Eail- 

road — Tragedies Connected with the Square — Tivoli Garden . . 165 

Chapter XXH 

Broad and Market Streets — The Commons — Centre Square — Exe- 
cutions—Water Works— City Hall 171 

Chapter XXIII 

Broad Street to Eighteenth — Centre House and Lombardy Garden 

— Improvements Around Penn Square — Seixas 179 

Chapter XXIV 

Eighteenth Street to the Schuylkill River— City Gas Works- 
Bridges Across the Schuylkill 187 

Chapter XXV 

West Philadelphia — Washington Street and the West Chester Road 

— Hamiltonville 195 

Appendix 

Directory of Market Sti'eet from Delaware Avenue to Ninth Street 
in 1918, 1801, and 1785 203 

Directory of Market Street, from Ninth Street to Seventeenth, 1918 

and 1859 210 

Index 215 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING PAGE 

Mabket Street Febbies, About 1S92, from a photograph 1 ' 

Type of Hobseboat Used on the Delawabe, from a photograph 2 i 

Paui, Beck, Jk., from a mezzotint by Samuel Sartain 4 . 

Fish Mabket in Mabket Stbeet East of Water, 1850, from "Qleason's Pictorial" .... 6 . 
Market Street Wharf in 1S30. from the drawing hy William R. Birch, in "The 

Vasket" 7 . 

The "Jersey Market." Market Street at Front, in 1838, from Wild's "Views of 

Philadelphia" 9 

Chief Justice William Allen, from a mezgotint hy John Sartain 10 

Col. Eleazer Oswald, from an etching of Albert Rosenthal 10 

Facsimile Title to the "General Magazine" 11 

Facsimile Title to Bell's Edition of "The Tbaveleb" 11 

Robert Aitken, from a prirate lithograph 15 

Court House, Second and Mabket Streets in 1764, from the engraving by Henry 

Dawkins 16 

John Speakman, Jr.. from the painting in the Academy of Natural Sciences 21 

William Ball, of Richmond Manor, from "Ball Family Records" 21 

Ancient Town Hall and Court House, Second and Market Streets, from a painting 

made about 1829 23 

William Cobbett, from a lithograph 26 

Hilaby Bakeb, from a portrait in the Oermantown Academy 26 

Charles Robert Leslie, R.A., from "Autobiographical Recollections by Charles Robert 

Leslie, R.A." 32 

Second Edifice of the First Presbyterian Church, from Birch's "Views of Phila- 
delphia" 35 

Cooke's Business Block, Third and Market Streets, from Birch's "Views of Phila- 
delphia" 36 

Samuel Archer, from a mezzotint by Samuel Sartain 37 

Rev. Dr. John Ewing, from the painting in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania 37 

An Early Suggestion for a Market Street Elevated Railway 38 

Christopher Marshall, from, a private lithograph 38 

Interior of the Mabket House in Mabket Street, 1800, from Birch's "Views of 

Philadelphia" 38 

XI 



XII List of Illustrations 

FACING PAOK 

House Erected by Richard Wistab at Third and Market Streets, from a photograph 

made in 1914 43 • 

Southwest Corner of Third and Market Streets, from, a photograph made in 1914 44 • 

Lieut.-Colonel Thomas Forrest, from an cnyraving in "Pennsylvaniu in the War of 

the Revolution" 49 

Richard Bache, from a private lithograph 55 

Mrs. Sarah Bache, from an engraving tty H. B. Hall 55 

Colonel William Duane. from the engraving hy Charles B. J. F. dcf^aint Memin .... 56 

James Wilson, from a copy of a daguerreotype 56 

15 Franklin Place, now 17 South Orianna Street, from a photograph made in 1912 57 

William Goddard, from a private lithograph 59 

Mathew Carey, from a mezzotint hy Samuel Sartain 64 

Benjamin Carr, from a mezzotint by John Sartain 66 

Mock Funeral of Washington Passing the Market at Fourth Street, from Birch's 

"Views of Philadelphia" 67 

Panoramas, Market Street North and South Sides, from Fourth to Fifth, from 

Baxter's Panoramic Business Directory. 1S59 C8 

Indian Queen Hotbx, from a sketch 70 

Guest Bill at Indian Queen in 1825 70 

Merchants' Building, Formerly Merchants' Hotel 71 

Market Street, South Side, West from Fourth, from a photograph ahout 186S .... T2 

John Grigg, fro)n an engraving by the American Bank Note Co 74 

Rebecca Gratz, from a copy of a miniature 74 

Dr. Casper Wistar, from a mezzotint hy Samuel Sartain 78 

Invitation Card to the Revived Wistar Party 78 

Colonel Joseph Shippen, from a private lithograph 80 

Eliza Leslie, from an engraving SO 

Thomas Sully in his Studio. About 1870, from a photograph 84 

11 South Fifth Street. Where Sully Lived, from a photograph 86 

Albert Newsam, from a lithograph hy James Queen 88 

Philip Freneau, from an engraving hy F. Halpin 8S 

Market Street, South Side, West from Fifth, from a photograph about 1S68 00 

Colonel Joseph M. Bennett, from a photograph by F. Gutekunst 92 

Dr. Phineas Bond, from a private lithograph 92 

Panoramas, Market Street, North and South Sides, Fifth to Sixth, from Baj-tcr's 

Panoramic Business Directory for 1859 95 

Nathan Sellers, from the painting by Charles Wilson Peale, 1820, lent hy Horace 

Wells Sellers 96 

Coleman Sellers, from the painting by Charles Wilson Peale, 1810. lent by Horace 

Wells Sellers 96 



List of Illustrations XIII 

FACING PAGE 

The Sellers House, 231 High Street, 1785-1829, drawn hy Horace Wells Sellers from 

a sketch by Ocorge Escol Sellers 98 

Southeast Cobnee of Sixth and Market Streets, 1795, from a sketch by C. A. 
Paulson 104 

Christian Febigeb, from the portrait in the "History of the First City Troop" 104 

General Joseph Reed, from a mezzotint by John Sartain 106 

Alexander Henby, Sr., from "History of the St. Andrew's Society" 106 

Wanamakeb & Brown's First Store, from the cover of the city Directory, 1865 .... 110 

Joseph Priestley, from "Scientific Correspondence of Joseph Priestley" 112 

Charles Biddle, from a miniature by Peate, owned by Edioard Biddle 112 

Thomas Jefferson, from an engraving by J. C. Buttre 120 

Advertising Card of Benjamin Randolph, engraved by James Smither 120 

Hyman Gbatz, from a private lithograph 122 

Jacob Hiltzheimer, from a silhouette in the possession of Alonzo R. Parsons 122 

Southwest Corner of Seventh and Market (Where Jefferson Wrote the Declara- 
tion of Independence) , 1883, from the drawing by Joseph Pennell in Harper's 
Weekly 123 

House, 830 Market Stbeet, Occupied by Benjamin Chew and William Rawle, from 

a photograph about 1859 126 

White Hall House, 715 Mabket Street, from a photograph about 1859 126 

Elliston Pebot, fro7n a silhouette by Joseph Sansom in the possession of T. Morris 

Perot 128 

John Perot, from a silhouette by Joseph Sansom in the possession of T. Morris Perot 128 

John Pebot's House, 731 Market Street, from a photograph, about 1859 130 

Samuel Beck, Jr., from a copy of a miniature 134 

Keely and His "Motor," drawing from a private photograph 134 

Market Street, East from Ninth, 1799, from Birch's "Views of Philadelphia" 137 

Market Street, East from Ninth, 1875, from a photograph 139 

Thomas Leipeb, frotn a mezzotint by John Sartain 140 

Edmund Randolph, from "Omitted Chapters of HUtory in the Life and Letters of 
Randolph" 140 

Oliveb Evans, from "Memoirs of the Most Eminent American Mechanics" 142 

Evans Steam Cabriage, the "Obukter Amphibolos," from a wood engraving 142 

Leaby's Book Store, from the cover of an exercise book 144 

University of Pennsylvania, 1838, from Wild's "Vieics of Philadelphia" 144 

House Erected for the President of the United States, from Birch's "Tieics of 
Philadelphia" 148 

University of Pennsylvania, 1829, from Childs' "Views of Philadelphia" 150 

Pennsylvania Railroad Station and United States Hotel, Eleventh and Market, 

1853, from an advertisement 154 



XIV List of Illustrations 

vac i no page 

John Stedthers 154 

Advertisement of Panorama of Battle of Paris bt Henry Aston Barker 156 

Ddnlap's House, Southeast Corner of Twelfth and Market, 1800. irom Scharf 

and Westcott's "History of Philadelphia" 158 

John Dunlap. from the "History of the First City Troop" 158 

House, 32 South Twelfth Street, Where Robert Morris Died, from a photograph 

made in 1901 159 

Mr. Ricketts and His Horse Cornplanter, from a contemporary engraving 160 

Tivoli (or Columbian) Garden, 1822, from "The Casket" 160 

Market Street, East of Thirteenth, 1887, from a photograph 162 

Pennsylvania Railroad Freight Depot, Thirteenth and Market, 1875, from a 
photograph hy R. Wewell & Son 1(55 

Semi-Centennial Fair of the Franklin Institute, 1874, from a photograph by 

B. Newell & Son 166 

Southeast Corner of Juniper and Market, 1852, from a water color drawing based 

on a contemporary sketch 168 

Penn Squares. Cleared for the Erection of City Hall, 1871, from a photograph . . . 171 
"An Account of the Lives and Behavior of Abraham and Levy Doan." from 

broadside of 1788 172 

Centre Square and the Engine House, About 1810, from an engraving 174 

Broad and Market Streets in ISIO, from Paxton's "Strangers' Guide to Philadelphia" 176 
Broad and Market Streets in 1871, enlarged section of photograph at page 171 .... 178 

Site of Broad Street Station, About 1876, from a photograph 179 

Polytechnic College, Merrick and Market, from an engraving 180 

Southwest Corner of Sixteenth and Market, 1856, from an advertisement of 

Morris & Jones £ Co 180 

1636 Market Street, Where David G. Seixas Founded a School fob Deaf Mutes, 

from a photograph made in 1909 183 

First Fire in City Hall, 1887, from a photograph 183 

Depot of the Philadelphia & Columbia Railroad, Eighteenth and Market, from 

"The Pictorial Sketch Book of Pennsylvania," 1852 185 

Marble Works of S. F. Jacoby & Co., 1856, from an advertisement 185 

Market Street Bridge, 1850, from "Oleason's Pictorial" 187 

First Permanent Bridge at Market Street, from the engraving by William Birch . . . 193 

Map of West Philadelphia, 1839. from Ellct's map of Philadelphia 195 

Pennsylvania Railroad Station at Thirtieth Street, from a photograph by R. 

Newell & Son 198 

Pennsylvania Railroad Station at Thirty-second and Market, from "Industries 

of Pennsylvania" 199 



List of Illustrations XV 

FACING PAGE 

William Penn Hotel, Market Stbeet West of Thirty-eighth, from a photograph 

made in 1917 200 • 

Paul Bcsti's House, from a photograph 200 "^ 



ILLUSTRATIONS IN PHOTOTYPE 

Terminal of the Market at Front Street, from a photograph, about 1859 . . . .Frontispiece 
London Coffee House, Southwest Corner of Front and Market, from a photograph, 

about 1859 13 

Penn's House in Letitia Street. The building at the corner is the one occupied 

by the founder. From a photograph made in 1876 17 

Market Street, North Side, West from Second, from a photograph, about 1868 25 

Market Street, South Side, West from Second, from a photograph, about 1868 .... 34 

Market Street, South Side, West from Third, from a photograph, about 1868 .... 42 

Market Street, North Side, West from Third, from a photograph, about 1868 .... 47 

Benjamin Franklin, from- the mezzotint after the portrait by Chamberlain 51 

Market Street. North Side, West from Fourth. The building at the corner was occu- 
pied by the Seventh yational Bank. From a photograph, about 1868 76 

Generax George Washington, from the Stipple engraving by Edward Savage after 

his own painting 102 

Market Street, East from Sixth, from a photograph, about 1859 109 

First Mint of the United States. Erected 1702, at 37 and 39 North Seventh 

Street, from a photograph by A. Lloyd Lewis. 1907, shortly before its removal . . 116 

House at the Southwest Corner of Seventh and Market Streets in Which 
Jefferson Wrote the Declaration of Independence, from a photograph, about 
1856. This appears to bo the earliest photograph made of this historic structure. . 118 
Market Street, North Side, Seventh to Eighth, from a photograph, about 1868 . . 124 

Market Street, North Side, Eighth to Ninth, from a photograph, about 1868 132 

Market Street, North Side, Ninth to Tenth, from a photograph, about 1868 146 

Market Street, North Side, East from Twelfth, showing the Farmers' Market and 
the preparations for the erection of the Franklin, or Twelfth street market. 
In the foreground stands a freight ear of the Pennsylvania Railroad. From a 
photograph, about 1863 161 

BoTs' Central High School, Juniper Street, South of Market, from a photograph 
taken from Penn Square, about 1853 167 

FotTETH OF July in Centre Square in 1812, from, the painting by John Lewis Krimmel 
in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts 177 

Market Sheds, in Market Street, West of Fifteenth. The large building at the 

right is the Western Exchange Hotel. Front, a photograph, about 1859 182 




'z 'L >. 



~ i - 






MARKET STREET, PHILADELPHIA 

Its Merchants and Its Story 



CHAPTER I 

THE HIGH STREET, FERRIES AND KIVEE FRONT 

Like many another of the original streets named by William Penn 
when he came over and looked upon the city of his dreams, Market 
street did not retain the name of the founder of the city bestowed upon 
it. On the plan which Thomas Holme drew of the city in 1682, Market 
street, which was intended to be the principal thoroughfare of Phila- 
delphia, is named High, the only street on the plan which bears any 
name at all, excepting Broad street, and as events proved, the Founder's 
expectations regarding the importance of the High street were realized, 
for it has had a most eventful history. 

There jjrobably are very few persons interested in the city's his- 
toiy who are ignorant of the fact that Market street originally and up 
to about sixty years ago was officially named High street. But the 
origin and meaning of that name, which was an importation from Eng- 
land, is not so familiar. One would not naturally think of looking for 
information or illustrative facts about early Philadelphia in the story 
of the days of the Roman occupation of Britain, yet it is to the England 
of that remote period that we must look if we desire to know the origin 
of High street. 

In the account of the city which accompanies the "Letter from 
William Penn to the Committee of the Free Society of Traders," which 
was printed in London in 1683, Thomas Holme refers to the design of 
the city in these words : 

"The city (as the model shows) consists of a large Front street 
to each river, and a High street (near the middle) from Front (or 
River) to Front, of 100 foot broad, and a Broad street in the middle 
of the city, from side to side, of the like breadth. In the centre of the 
city is a square of ten acres ; at each angle are to be houses for public 
affairs, as a meeting place. Assembly or State House, market house, 
schoolhouse, and several other buildings for public concerns. There are 
also in each quarter of the city a square of eight acres, to be for the 
like uses, as Moorefields in London; and eight streets (besides the 
High street, that runs from Front to Front), and twenty streets (be- 
sides the Broad street) that nm across the city, from side to side; all 
these streets are fifty foot breadth." 



2 Market Street, Philadelphia 

Nearly every old English town to this day has its High street, 
by which the main artery of travel through it is generally called, and 
has been so named for centuries. It came to be a popular designation 
of the principal thoroughfare of a town, or its main traveled road. 

Famed as they were for many civilizing conveniences, the Eomans 
are still recalled as the foremost road builders of Europe. When they 
conquered Britain, they immediately, from militaiy consideration, of 
course, set to work to make roads. They taught Europe how to make 
a roadway, although their method would be regarded as expensive in 
these days of scientific management, but then when the Romans built 
a road, it was not for the purpose of making a showing on a ledger, 
but to remain of use for ages. 

While they did not always follow the specifications for road-making 
laid down for them in the works of Vitruvius, in general they did not 
greatly depart from the essentials. First they made parallel furrows 
along the line of the road, and after removing all the loose earth between 
these bounds, and having reached the hard earth, they then filled in the 
trench with fine earth well packed to make it firm. Small, square 
stones were carefully laid on this foundation, and usually fresh mortar 
was poured over them. Upon this small broken stone mixed with lime 
was thrown. Then came another stratum, consisting of broken stone, 
lime, chalk, gravel and broken tile, all mixed with clay. These four 
layers only formed the foundation for the roadway, which was the final 
layer. This consisted of larger cut stones, sometimes as large as flag 
stones, and usually of the size of granite paving blocks. Sometimes 
the roadway itself was composed of a mixture of gravel and lime. 

It will be imagined that these five layers of paving must have 
raised the roadway to a considerable height; oftentimes to a real em- 
bankment above the surrounding ground. The Romans in road building 
carried their roads straight over hills and even such low mountains as 
are to be found in England, and their general aspect whether encoun- 
tered on a plain or over a mountain was high. The height was notice- 
able and insistent, and in course of time, long after the Romans had 
ceased to govern the island kingdom, the main roads became known 
when they passed through a village or town, as the High street, or the 
Highway. Roman roads, which were numerous in England and Wales, 
were of great length, but they were called by the Saxons straets, a 
word akin to strata, and thus we get not only the name High, but the 
word street, also, from the dwellers in ancient Britain. 

But if Philadelphia is indebted to England for the name High 
street, wliich undoubtedly is the case, nearly every American city or 
town founded since 1700 is, in turn, indebted to Philadelphia for its 
Market street, which is particularly Philadelphian in street nomen- 
clature. This, too, was due to the plan of Penn, who, long before his 




TYPE OF IIi>i;si;i'.(iA'l' (IXCE FSED ON THE 1 ii:i.A\VAi;i: 



This photosraiih was nirtilo of the hist hoat 
of its kind plying the Mississiiipi. Imt it j;ives 
an idea of the ferry once a familar olijeit 
at tlie foot of ilarUet street. 



Its Merchants and Its Story 3 

city was laid out or settled, had provided a wide High street, where 
markets could be held on regular days of the week under certain re- 
strictions and rules. Before that time no city or town in the colonies 
had made a like provision for its inliahitants. 

The markets which from very early in the city's history were char- 
acteristic of the High street caused the inhabitants to refer to the 
latter as Market street, just as the arch over Mulberry street at Front 
involuntarily led Philadelphians to allude to the street as Arch. In 
1853, the year before the consolidation of the city, the name of the 
street was officially changed to conform with usage. 

Important as Market street was to become, the first wharf erected 
after Penn's arrival and the laying out of the city was not built at 
the foot of that street, but in the rear of Samuel Carpenter's lot, which 
would place it somewhere between Walnut and Chestnut streets. This 
wharf was erected in 1685, and probably was a very small pier. Ten 
years later a ferry was established from Arch street to the Jersey 
side of the river, the Grand Jury of Gloucester County, N. J., in 1695 
having granted permission to Daniel Cooper to maintain a transporta- 
tion line between the two colonies. Cooper's ferry thus may be said 
to have been virtually the oldest regular line of communication between 
Philadelphia and the Jersey shore. 

Samuel Carpenter, mentioned above, probably was the richest man 
in Philadelphia in the early years of the city's history, and the second 
man in point of wealth at that time was Samuel Richardson, whom 
the late Governor Pennypacker was proud to claim as an ancestor. 
Carpenter owned all the land on the north side of Market street, from 
Second street to the Delaware river, and held many offices of distinction 
in the Province. He was one of the first six aldermen appointed by 
Penn in his first charter of the city, dated ''Third month 20th, 1691," 
or more properly, May 30, 1691. A member of the Provincial Assembly, 
a provincial councillor and a judge of the Common Pleas of Philadel- 
phia county, he was a man of influence. It is evident he lost nothing 
on his real estate venture, for it is said he sold it off in ground rents 
that ran for a hundred years. 

The foot of every street in the city proper in the early years of 
the city was a public landing. Thus, while there was a ferry house at 
Arch street, and later at Market street, these were independent of the 
public landing, and had to be constnicted either above or below the 
landing. 

What is believed to be the earliest view of the city's water front 
is that which may be seen in the Philadelphia Library. This is the 
long "Prospective View of Philadelphia from the South West," by 
Peter Cooper, which is believed to have been painted before the year 
1720. Peter Cooper, who in 1717 was admitted a freeman of the city 



4 Mabket Street, Philadelphia 

of Philadelijliia, is described in the minutes of the Common Council as 
a iminter. The example of his pictorial efforts compels the belief that 
Cooper was a house painter, and that when he painted this view of the 
water front had in mind to make his picture astonishing rather than 
accurate. 

The history of the view is interesting. It was bought in London by 
George M. Dallas, while he was United States Minister to the Court 
of St. James, and he exj^lains in a letter that his attention was called 
to the relic by a member of Parliament, who told him of its existence 
in a curiosity shop in London. The view is painted on canvas, and is 
eight feet long and about eighteen inches in height. Mr. Dallas bought 
it in the early part of the year 1857, and forwarded it to the Philadel- 
phia Library Comi^any. 

From descriptions of the city, which are authentic and reliable, it 
is known that Cooper relied more upon an inventive faculty than he 
did ui^on accurate observation in painting the picture. He shows many 
spires surmounted by large balls ; five-story houses are the rule, rather 
than the exception, and all are thrown together so promiscuously that 
there is no indication of streets or public landing places. Interesting 
as the work is as an early attempt at landscape painting in this country, 
yet as historical data it must be admitted to have little value. 

A much better view of the river front was published as a plate to 
the Gentleman's Magazine in 1761, but this plate evidently was not 
founded upon Cooper's picture, but upon the view of Scull. Scull & 
Heap's map of 1750 indicates Cooper's Ferry, which at that time evi- 
dently started on this side of the river from Arch street. 

Early in the eighteenth century Market street wharf was a busy 
landing place. It was there that the boats which ran from Burlington 
to this city and connected with the stage coaches through New Jersey 
to Staten Island departed and arrived. All those who have read Frank- 
lin's "Autobiography" will recall that it was at Mai-ket street wharf 
that Sunday morning in the year of 1723 that the youthful printer made 
his inauspicious entrance to Philadelphia while her citizens were in 
church. 

Mai-ket street wharf in the early years was the principal landing 
place of the boats which brought to the market here tiie Jersey produce, 
and there was a regular traffic between the two colonies, which on two 
days of the week was large for those days. It was a wood wharf, and 
from very early times there was a fish market just above it on the hill 
between the wharf and what is now Water street. 

For nearly a quarter of a century after the founding of the city. 
Front street was the only thoroughfare near the river. Between it 
and the river on the bank, from time to time, other structures were put 
up, and these became so numerous that in 1705 King street, now Water 




I'AUL RECK. Jit. 

Merc-liaiil and riiilanllirdiiist 



Its Merchants and Its Story 5 

street, was laid out. While this may have improved the situation along 
the river front for a time, by the end of the century the wharves were 
not easily approached. The wretched condition of the rambling struc- 
tures which were clustei-ed around the water front attracted the atten- 
tion of Paul Beck, who in 1785 had liis counting house at the foot of 
Market street, and in 1820 he devised and published a plan for the 
improvement of the water front of the city from Vine to Spruce streets. 
This was the first ambitious piece of city planning the city had known, 
and it was startling in its originality and in the daring of its conception. 

Briefly, the plan was for the city to acquire all the property from 
Vine to Spruce streets, and between Front street and the river, and 
after removing all buildings to erect a series of stores built in pairs, 
each block extending from Front street to a new avenue, averaging 
seventy-five feet in width, along the river, and having alleys between 
each pair. The stores were to front on what was called New Water 
street, a thoroughfare that was to parallel Front street and be sepa- 
rated from it by a stone wall. The estimated cost of this improvement, 
according to Mr. Beck, and based upon the figures of William Strick- 
land, the architect and engineer, was $3,651,000. 

This plan may be said to have been the first glimpse of the future 
Delaware avenue, and may have suggested to Stephen Girard the be- 
quest to the city of Philadelphia for the purpose of laying out, paving 
and maintaining a wide street along the river. At any rate, when he 
had read the plan of Beck, which had been submitted to him for his 
opinion, Girard rather ill-naturedly opposed it, on the score that the 
neighborhood in which he had lived for more than forty years was as 
healthful as any other section of the city. It is true that Beck had 
offered his plan as a sanitary improvement, for he believed, as did 
many other Philadelphians of the time, that the yellow fever was caused 
by the unsanitary condition of buildings on the river front of the city. 

With Girard 's opposition the plan fell through, and yet, when he 
came to write his will, less than a dozen years later, he left a bequest 
of $500,000 to the city for an improvement that, apart from the building 
program, was rather the same in effect as that of Beck. There was 
another difference, and that was that while Beck's plan would have 
been a revenue producer as well as a public improvement, Girard 's 
money was left for a public improvement that was not directly a pro- 
ducer of revenue to the city. 

In spite of the fact that the city levied a small sum on all of the 
wood landed on High street wharf, in 1720 Common Council decided 
that the city wharves were not paying, and it agi'eed to accept the offer 
of Aldermen Masters and Eedman, and lease them High street wharf 
for seven years at an annual rent of £6. In 1735 the corporation of 
the city petitioned the Governor to obtain possession of the ferry at 



6 Mabket Steeet, Philadelphia 

High street, which was operated between that point and "William 
Cooper's" on the Jersey side of the river. "William Cooper's" prob- 
ably was what later became known as Cooper's Point. 

Subsequently there were two ferries at the foot of Market street. 
In 1800 the upper ferry was operated by Benjamin Reeves, to Market 
street, Camden. In 1832 Isaac Eeeves owned it, and in 1841 it was 
Pierson's upper ferry, and from it ran the boats which connected with 
the stage which ran down to Absecon, now Atlantic City, Great Egg 
Harbor and May's Landing, on three days a week. The start from the 
ferry had to be made at 4 o 'clock in the morning, and about twelve hours 
were required to reach the seashore. The stage returned on alternate 
days. 

During the late years of the eighteenth century the upper ferry 
was owned by Scattergood, and a few years later the lower ferry was 
operated by John Negus. 

That High street wharf was one of the early built landing places 
is shown by the fact that in 1704 it was found in need of repair. 

Ritter, in his "Philadelphia and Her Merchants," gives a lively de- 
scription of the neighborhood of Market, or High street wharf, about 
the year 1800. He describes the ferry house at the northern comer of 
High street and the river front as a frame building of two stories in 
height. This, he adds, was purchased by Girard. At the southwest 
corner of the avenue and High, or Market street, was another frame 
building. This was a groceiy and fish store. The hill from Front street 
toward the river in those days was much steeper than it is at present, 
and in the winter season when snow was on the ground the boys used 
it as a toboggan slide. 

In the summer of 1819 another epidemic of yellow fever threatened 
the city. A case was discovered in the upper ferry tavern or ferry 
house, and as a result of the disease two persons died and twenty in 
all were affected. It probably was this visitation of the dread disease 
that called forth Paul Beck's plan for the improvement of the river 
front. 

The fish market stood in the middle of Market street from Water 
stieet to the wharf from veiy early times, although before the building 
of the market shed west of the Court House in 1709 the markets were 
held in the open and consisted of stalls put up very much as they are 
still to be found in the curb mai-kets on South street, excepting that 
they were located in the middle of the street. The fish market was built 
a few years later, and in 1816 an entirely new shed was erected and 
opened. This structure stood until about 1860, when all the sheds on 
Market street were taken down. 

Steam ferry boats appear to have been first used to cross the river 
here about 1810. Before that time ferries, boats which would transport 



1 1 1 







1 ^ 




/ I. 



Its Merchants and Its Story 7 

from twelve to fifteen persons; "horseboats," to carry vehicles and 
their steeds across the river; and " teamboats, " or horse ferries, which 
were propelled by horse power, were used. The horse ferries were 
propelled by horses walking in a circle and turning a capstan giving 
motion to the wheels. A boat of this description was in use on the 
Mississippi river at St. Mary's, Mo., up to about ten years ago, and as 
it answers the description of the old ferries at Market street, it is pic- 
tured here. 

Of the steamboats operated from Market street wharf in the early 
years of the last century, there was one named the "Ridgway," built for 
Benjamin Reeves, who was proprietor of the Upper Feriy, and whose 
boats ran from Market street on this side to Cooper street on the 
Camden side of the river. Another steam ferry boat, operated about 
the same time, was the "Washington," which made trijis from Market 
street to Market street, Camden. There were also other steam ferry 
boats which were familiar by name, such as the "Phcenix," "Consti- 
tution," "Moses Lancaster" and "Independence." 

A characteristic view of the Market street ferries as they appeared 
about 1830 was painted by William Russell Birch, and the view was 
engraved for the October number of The Casket in 1832, probably re- 
drawn upon the wood by Birch himself, and giving more detail than 
appears in photographs of the original water-color painting. 

An explanation accompanies the plate in the magazine and, as it 
describes the vicinity in 1832, it may prove informing: 

The house on the extreme left, on the south side of High street and 
fronting the river, is a large three-story building occupied as a merchant's 
store, and connected with a hotel, kept by Mr. Joseph Burr. A steamboat 
line to Camden is connected with it, the starting point for which on the 
Delaware shore may be seen immediately in front, where vehicles and 
passengers are represented as in waiting for the arrival of a boat. The 
wharf immediately adjoining on the left is occupied by one of the Boston 
lines of packets. 

The low building in the centre is the Fish Market, erected many years 
since by the city authorities for the convenience of persons trading in fish 
and fruits. At the proper season it is abundantly stocked with excellent fish 
of many species from the river and ocean. In the rear of this, at the top 
of the hill, a view is obtained of the Jersey Market, which at all seasons 
of the year is plentifully filled with the produce of New Jersey ; and further 
back, a glimpse of the old Court House, at the corner of Second and Market 
streets, which forms the eastern wing of what are called the "Butchers' 
Shambles," extending to Eighth street. Connected with the old Court House 
and the adjoining neighborhood are many reminiscences of an exceedingly 
interesting character. 

Adjoining the fish market on the right at Mr. Reeves' ferry is the 
steamboat "William Wray" at the wharf. This boat, in conjunction with the 
"Philadelphia," another of the same character, plies incessantly between this 
wharf and Camden, the trade and intercourse between the two cities in the 
summer season being sufficiently extensive to afford constant employment for 
them, as well as a number of others attached to other ferries. The house 
fronting the river, on the north side of Market street, is occupied as a ferry 
house by Isaac Reeves. It is a large and commodious four-story building, 
admirably adapted to the convenience and comfort of travelers. 



8 Market Street, Philadelphia 

In tlie background, immediately over Mr. Reeves' house, is seen the 
steeple of Christ Church, one of the oldest churches in the city. From Market 
street veharf the picture is at all times gay and pleasing. Steamboats and 
vessels are constantly passing and repassing, bearing away the produce of 
our city, and arriving with the luxuries of others — the merry song of the 
boatman is heard in unison with the stroke of the oar. the rattling of cordage, 
the unfurling of sails and the sonorous "ho ! heave ! yo !" of the laborer on 
the wharf. 

The steamboat "William Wray" was named for a popular grocer, 
who, in 1801, had his store at 5, 7, and 11 Market street, and who has 
been handed down to immortality in the pages of Eitter's "Philadelphia 
Merchants. ' ' 

The block from the river, now Delaware avenue, to Front street 
on Market was filled with small shops in 1785. Nearly all of them 
were grocery stores. At the southwest corner of Market street and the 
river roadway in that year was the store of Paul Beck, Jr., who had 
only been in business for a few years. He became one of the foremost 
citizens of Philadelphia, and his name is identified with many phOan- 
thropies and charities. 

On the north side of Market street in the same square the comer 
house was the ferry house. In 1801 this was occupied by William 
Phares. Next to his house was the store of William Wray, and in 1785 
part of Wray's site was occupied by Ealston & Holmes, grocers. In 
1791 William Ralston had the store, and a few years later removed to 
North Front street, where his son, Robert Ralston, afterward carried 
on the business. 

It is a curious fact that in 1801 the south side of Market street 
between the river front and Front street, five of the six stores were 
occupied by tailors. The south side in those days seemed to attract the 
tailors, and in the square above there were even moi'e of the same trade. 

In 1704, what was then regarded as a stately mansion, was erected 
at the southeast corner of Front and Market streets, by Thomas Mas- 
ters, who came here from Bermuda a few years earlier, and who soon 
became one of the leaders in Philadelphia. He was an alderman of 
the city and in 1707 and 1708 was mayor. He represented the city in the 
assembly in 1704 and 1712, and was a member from the county in 
1710 and 1716. His son, William, it appears, made violent love to 
Letitia Penn, the daughter of the Founder, and even undertook a jour- 
ney to England to many her, only to find she had changed her mind and 
had married William Aubrey. 







2^ 
o o 






CHAPTER II 

celebrities in the neighborhood of water street "printing house 

square" from front street to second 

There is so much to interest us in the lower end of Market street 
that we must pause in our progress and consider Water street. 

Stephen Girard's house was in early years numbered 43 North 
Water street, and his warehouse, which fronted on Front street, bore 
the number 33 North Front street. It was in his Water street place, 
however, that we may in imagination again see that strange merchant 
whom most of us seem to think of always as an old man. It is true 
that Girard never was a frivolous man, even in his young days, but 
when he married Mary Lum, who also dwelt in Water street, he was a 
young man, although some of his detractors have alluded to him as an 
old one who sorely tried the patience of his young bride, which state- 
ment does not agree with the facts. 

It was to this Water street house that the French refugees, the 
Count de Survilliers, Field Marshal Count Grouchy and General Lalle- 
mand were accustomed to come, especially to Sunday dinner. At an 
earlier period, during the terrific days of the French Revolution, there 
came here at times the Duke of Orleans, later Louis Philippe, and his 
brother, who were emigres at the time, and a little earlier still came 
Talleyrand, who spent a short period in the city, but not as a hatter 
on North Second street, as some persons have believed. In this house 
on North Water street, unfortunately no longer in existence, Girard 
died the day after Christmas, 1831, and from this dwelling began that 
historic funeral cortege to the Church of the Holy Trinity, at Sixth and 
Spruce streets, where the great financier and merchant, and, as he 
always proudly termed himself, mariner, was laid in the vault of Gen- 
eral Lallemand, who had married one of his nieces. 

The rebuilding of the river front and the general improvements in 
the neighborhood during the last eighty years have removed all traces 
of the buildings once occupied and used by Girard. Even the site of 
his building on Front street has been obliterated by the roadbed of the 
Market street elevated and subway line. 

But there was an earlier and, in his day, a far more prominent 
resident of Water street. This was Chief Justice William Allen, who 
sat as presiding Justice over the Supreme Court of the province from 
1750 until 1774. 

9 



10 Market Street, Philadelphia 

At the time Chief Justice Allen dwelt at the corner of the first 
alley north of Market street, Water street bore the name of King street, 
but during the Revolution kings became so unpopular in the colonies 
that they would not even tolerate one in the name of a street, so King 
street suffered a change to Water. The Chief Justice was one of the 
most influential men in the province, and also was one of the most 
opulent residents in the city. The fame of his coach, drawn by four 
black horses, with an English coachman on the box, survives even until 
the present day. He had been a successful merchant, but in those days 
it was not an essential for a Chief Justice to be learned in the law, so 
he was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. 

He took great interest in the establishment of the Academy and 
College of Philadelphia, subsequently the University of Pennsylvania. 
Indeed, his interest in this institution brought down upon his head some 
of the scurrilities of Isaac Hunt, the father of Leigh Hunt, who was 
a student of the academy, but was dismissed for his connection with 
the heated partisan pamphlet war which raged about the heads of Frank- 
lin and his party on one side and the Academy party on the other. 

Probably the aid he lent to the expedition sent out to find the 
Northwest Passage in 1753 and 1754, the first Arctic expedition sent 
out from America, will one of these days be one of Chief Justice Allen's 
principal claims to be remembered by Philadelphians. He has left his 
name in that thoroughfare in Mt. Airy, Allen's lane, for he maintained 
a country place in that part of the city. 

Before the Revolution Samuel Taylor, a bookbinder, had his shop 
at the corner of Water and Market streets, at the sign of the Book and 
Hand, for in those days shops and other buildings were unnumbered, 
and shopkeepers were accustomed to hang out a distinguishing sign. 

Between Water street and the river, but on which side of the street 
we have no means of determining, Robert Bell, the eccentric Scotchman, 
who became known as the patriot printer, opened an auction house soon 
after he came to this country from Scotland in 1767. His advertise- 
ments in the Pennsylvania Chronicle inform the public that he is an 
auctioneer and sells at the Market street shop "at the sign of the Sugar 
Loaf," and also at the "upper vendue house, Second street, near Vine." 

Bell's business principally was the sale of books, but he had scarcely 
become a tenant in the Market street place before he published the 
first American edition of Goldsmith's "Traveler," in 1768. No pub- 
lisher's name appears on the title, but it is known that Bell was the 
publisher. The imprint is characteristic of Bell, being simply : ' ' Printed 
for every purchaser, MDCCLXVIII." The same year he also issued 
Johnson's "Rasselas" and "Lady Mary MontagTie's Poetical Works," 
both the first editions printed in this country. 

Bell, in addition to having given to the world those famous pam- 






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Its Merchants and Its Story 11 

phlets of Tom Paine, "Common Sense," and the series of "The Crisis" 
on the eve of the Revohition also is entitled to the distinction of having 
introduced to American readers many volmnes of English literature 
which his courage induced him to print. Before Bell's time there were 
few books printed here that were not religious tracts, or almanacs, or 
pamphlets. But Bell gave intelligent Philadelphians, and Colonials 
■generally, a broader literary horizon. 

He finally located his printing office and bookstore next to St. 
Paul's church on Third street, and there he maintained a circulating 
library. He went to Richmond after the Revolution and died there in 
1784 at the age of sixty years. In the sense that any pul)lisher who en- 
courages the issue of the best literature is a literary character. Bell 
may be said to have been the first literary character in the United States 
during the period in which he was engaged in business here. 

In front of the old London Coffee House, which stood at the south- 
west corner of Front and Market streets until 1883, and about which we 
shall have something more to say later, it was customary for the fisher- 
men who brought their commodity to the fish market, which stood in 
the middle of Market street, between Water street and the ferry, to 
erect a Maypole on May Day. This appears to have been the custom 
from very early times until some time after the Revolution. From all 
accounts this was the only May Day celebration annually held in the 
city, if we excejit the assertion that it was a custom among the Phila- 
delphia blacksmiths during the same period to erect small Mayjjoles in 
front of their shops. Both fishermen and blacksmiths decorated the 
poles with greens and boughs and bright-colored ribbons. The custom 
among the blacksmiths is said to have originated with the craft in 
London in the thirteenth century, and to have been brought here by 
London blacksmiths who emigrated to Philadelphia. It is not quite so 
clear how the custom originated among the fishermen, but evidently was 
an importation from England. 

Front and Market streets was regarded as the top of the hill, al- 
though Market street continues to rise until Second street is reached. 
From Front street to the river in the old days there was a decided grade, 
and the hill was even more noticeable than it is today. 

We are now in the heart of the old printing district in Philadelphia. 
It is not known where the first William Bradford had his printing house, 
but there is reason to believe that it was not far from Front and Market 
streets. It is true that there has been an inclination to believe that the 
first printer in the Middle Colonies, who came here about the time the 
city was settled, had his first printing shop in what is now called Ken- 
sington, from a statement that it was ' ' near Philadelphia. ' ' If Bradford 
really did open his first shop in Kensington, it seems certain that before 
many years he was in the heart of Philadelphia. 



12 Market Street, Philadelphia 

His descendants continued as printers for a full century and more 
after the city was founded, and their careers are centred around Front 
and Second streets in the neighborhood of Market. 

This neighborhood until the beginning of the last century was 
what might have been called the Printing House Square of Philadelphia, 
for within a few hundred feet all the prominent printers and publishers 
of the city, and at the time they were among the most powerful men in 
their trade in the country, were to be found. 

It was in this neighborhood that the first newspapers and magazines 
published in Philadelphia were issued, but while there is a fairly long 
list of the early ones, it must be remembered that all of them were not 
issued simultaneously. 

There does not appear to be any record of the first printing office 
of Franklin, which was on Market street somewhere near Second. Here, 
in 1728, while a very young man, after leaving Keimer, Franklin and an 
employe of Keimer, Hugh Meredith, then just out of his appi"enticeship, 
engaged in business, and their first book was ' ' The History of the Rise, 
Increase and Progress of the Christian People, called Quakers," which 
bore the imprint of Samuel Keimer. In Second street Keimer, it ap- 
pears, had printed the greater part of the Work before he failed, and 
the completion of the book was given to the young printers. 

It was in Keimer 's shop that Franklin first went to work when he 
came to Philadelphia, and upon his return from England he went back 
to the eccentric printer, and there became acquainted with Meredith. 
The two young printers worked night and day at the "History of the 
Quakers," until they had it completed, and Franklin records in his 
"Autobiography" that it was late at night before he had finished dis- 
tributing the tyi^e he had set during the day for his partner to run off 
on the press. 

The partnership did not continue for much longer than a year, for 
Meredith was dissipated and a poor man of business, so he sold out his 
interest to Franklin. The latter continued in the shop until 1741, when 
his imprints mention his "new printing office near the market." This 
place seems to have been the one occupied by Franklin's successors in 
the business. Hall & Sellers. If this surmise be the correct one, that 
building stood on the site of the building now munbered 135 Market 
street, where William Hall, the son of David Hall, Franklin's partner, 
continued to reside until about the end of the eighteenth eentuiy. From 
this building in the rear there was first published the Saturday Evening 
Post, in 1821, by another successor of Franklin, Atkinson & Alexander. 

It was while here, in January, 1741, that Franklin began the publi- 
cation of the first monthly magazine printed in this country. It was 
called The General Magazine and Historical Chronicle for all the 
British Plantations in America. It lasted only sis months, but this 



Its Merchants and Its Story 13 

was four months longer than Andrew Bradford's magazine, which, 
Franklin charged, had been started by Bradford after the latter learned 
of his intention. All efforts to discover a copy of Bradford's magazine 
have resulted in failure and we must regard it as one of the "lost books." 

In 1754 William Bradford, a grandson of the first printer of that 
name, removed from Second street to the Old London Coffee House, 
which he opened as a house of entertainment, and next to which on 
Market street he kept his printing house, at the "Sign of the Bible." 
He was one of the first to engage in marine insui-ance here. 

After mastering the trade of printer with his uncle, Andrew Brad- 
ford, and having had a disagreement with the latter 's second wife, 
William Bradford opened a printing house on Second street between 
Market and Chestnut streets. This was in 1742, and the next year he 
moved to the corner of Black Horse alley on Second street, and began 
the publication of the Pennsylvania Journal. He prospered as a printer 
and bookseller "at the Sign of the Bible," and in 1754, having been 
requested to open a place of refreshment at Front and Market streets, 
he leased the old building and opened it as the London Coffee House. 

There had been a coffee house on Front street, near Market, kept 
for years by "the Widow Roberts," but she retired in 1754 and then 
Bradford entered upon a new business. He moved his printing office to 
the same location, and part of the time it was on Front street south of 
Market and latterly was on Market street, next to the coffee house. 

This picturesque building, which was removed in 1883, was built 
in 1702. It stood on a part of property patented by Penn to his daughter 
Letitia in 1701. Letitia, who went to England the same year and mar- 
ried William Aubrey, sold the corner lot at Front and Market streets, 
having a width on Front street of 25 feet and on Mai-ket street of 
100 feet, to Charles Reed, who erected the building. At the death of 
Reed his widow conveyed the property to Israel Pemberton, a wealthy 
Quaker, who willed it to his son John in 1751. 

Under Bradford's management the coffee house became the busiest 
place in the city. It was a kind of merchants' exchange, and at times, 
it is said, slaves were disposed of at public sale before its doors. There 
is a picture in "Watson's Annals" to this effect, but, of course, it is 
purely imaginative. John Pemberton, who owned the building, where 
it seems something stronger than coffee was dispensed, after a time 
came to the conclusion that it was unseemly in a Quaker to permit a 
piece of his property to be leased for the purpose of disposing of strong 
drink — and coffee, so he rented the building to James Stokes to be used 
as a dwelling. 

Before this, however, the place was let to Gifford Dailey in 1780 
for a place of refreshment. The property at the death of John Pem- 
berton passed into the jjossession of the Pleasant family, and then, in 



14 Market Street, Philadelphia 

1796, was sold to Stokes. At this sale only eighty-two feet on Market 
street were sold, the western part of the lot having been bnilt upon. 

After Dailey had the coffee house for about two years he was 
succeeded by Colonel Eleazer Oswald. Colonel Oswald was a fiery but 
excellent artillery officer in the Revolution. As a journalist he also 
was energetic and progressive. He came to Philadelphia in 1782 and 
began the publication of the Independent Gazetteer and the Chronicle 
of Freedom. It was the following year that he took over the London 
Coffee House and had his printing office next door to it. Oswald had 
been a partner of William Goddard in a newspaj^er enterprise in Mary- 
land before he came to this city. 

At the same time he was starting the Independent Gazetteer in this 
city, he was reviving the Ne^v York Journal in the latter city, and con- 
tinued to publish both newspapers for several years. Oswald, after 
creating a great deal of excitement here by fighting a duel with Mathew 
Carey, and spending a month in jail for contempt of court in another 
connection, went to France at the outbreak of the French Revolution 
and became a colonel of artillery, for which he was eminently capable. 
He returned to this countrj^ when the Reign of Terror was instituted and 
died in New York in 1795, at the age of forty-eight years. 

Mathew Carey, about whom we shall have more to relate later, 
began business on Front street below Market in 1784. He had just 
arrived from Europe, and while he was deciding what course to pursue 
he was invited to see Lafayette, who was in the city. The Marquis, 
upon learning that the young Irishman intended to start a newspaper, 
presented him with $400 without any solicitation on his part. Carey 
bought the press of Robert Bell, then recently deceased, and began the 
publication of The Pennsylvania Herald, which had a short existence. 

In January, 1775, Philadelphia had two newspapers. One of these. 
The Pennsylvania Ledger, or Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and 
New Jersey Weekly, was published by James Humphreys, Jr., on Front 
street, at the corner of Black Horse alley, which was between Market 
and Chestnut streets, and nearby there was issued The Pennsylvania 
Evening Post, by Benjamin Towne, who printed "in Front street near 
the Coffee House." 

Humphreys was a Tory, and Towne, until the British came to town, 
was a Wliig; but the Post, which had constantly cast siispicion on the 
Ledger, managed finally to drive Humphreys from the city. He re- 
turned when the British were here, and he left with them when they evac- 
uated Philadelphia. Then Towne returned to his Whig principles and 
continued to publish his paper, although he had been prescribed as a 
loyalist. No person ever succeeded so magnificently in carrying water 
on both shoulders as did Towne, and when he died in 1782 he was in 
very comfortable circumstances. 




l!(ilti;i!T AITKKN 

Who pi-iiiti-<l lilt- nrsi Itililc ill Kii;;lish in 

iliis rMiiiitry ill ITs'J 



Its Mekchants and Its Story 15 

Towne's Evening Post had the distinction of having given first 
publication to the Declaration of Independence, which will be found in 
the number for Saturday, July 6, 1776. 

Other notable printers were connected with the history of the square 
between Front and Second on Market. Hall & Sellers, the successors 
of Franklin, or rather of David Hall, who had been Franklin's partner, 
have the distinction of having printed the first New Testament in Eng- 
lish published in this country. The volume is so scare that at the 
Pennypacker sale it was announced that no other copy was known. 

The English Bible was first published in America on Market street. 
Not only was the New Testament first printed hei-e, but the complete 
Scriptures was published by Robert Aitken in 1782, in two volimies. 
Aitken had his printing office "at the sign of Pope's Head, above the 
Coffee House." This site may be placed as that of the building now 
numbered 110. Aitken also published the first volumes of the "Trans- 
actions of the American Philosophical Society," and after his death 
his business was conducted by his daughter Jane who, in 1808, brought 
out Charles Thomson's translation of the Bible in four volumes, the 
first translation attempted in the new world. 

John Dunlap, who was one of the founders of the First City Troop 
and one of the early captains of that organization, was associated with 
David C. Claypoole in a printing house on Market street, south side, the 
third door east from Second. But what is more worthy of remembrance 
is the fact that Dunlap & Claypoole published a newspaper that was the 
first daily issued in this country, and in it appeared the first publication 
of Washington's Farewell Address. 

Dunlap started the Pennsylvania Packet, or General Advertiser, in 
November, 1771. It was then a weekly. Clayi^oole, who is said to have 
been a descendant of Oliver Cromwell, "whom he resembled in feature," 
according to Isaiah Thomas, was associated with Dunlap, and subse- 
quently succeeded the latter in the publication of the newspaper. Clay- 
poole was the publisher in 1783, and in the columns of the General 
Advertiser were printed the debates in Congress from 1783 to 1799. 
In 1784 Claypoole astonished his contemporaries by issuing his paper 
daily. Washington sent him the original manuscript of his Farewell 
Address and presented it to him. The proof sheets of the address were 
purchased by George W. Childs and presented to the Historical Society 
of Pennsylvania. These proofs contain the manuscript corrections by 
Washington. The original manuscript was purchased by James Lenox 
and is now in the Lenox Library in New York. 

Our journey westward has been necessarily interrupted by little 
side trips to spots that have a part in the annals of Market street. 
From very early times, in accordance with the plan, markets were held 
two days a week in the middle of Market street. That part devoted to 



16 Maeket Street, Philadelphia 

this use between Front and Second streets was called the Jersey 
Market. Here it was eustomary for farmers to come two days a week 
and expose their produce on stalls provided for them. A bell was put 
up at Front street, and it was the custom to have it rung when a boat 
of produce had put into the landing. 

These stalls, as may be seen in a print by Henry Dawkins, were 
open to all weathers in 1764. This part of the city appears to have 
been the part that received the first permanent paving, at the sugges- 
tion of Franklin, about the middle of the eighteenth century; and here 
also, acting on a suggestion from the same source, street cleaners were 
first set to work on the city's streets, both of which improvements were 
immediately appreciated and continued. In the earliest days the aisle 
between the market stalls was covered with gravel. 

The prison and pillory and stocks stood in the middle of Market 
street at the east side of Second during the early years of the city. The 
jail became a nuisance, and in 1713 the Councils talked about removing 
it. A lot at the southwest corner of Third and Market streets was 
obtained, but the prison was not removed until 1722. A little before 
the Revolution the old stalls were replaced by a market shed, but the 
terminal, with its architectural dome, which some old Philadelphians may 
still recall at Front and Market streets, did not come into existence until 
1822. This remained as an interesting ornament to the old market shed 
until all were finally removed in 1859. 













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CHAPTER III 

FRONT STREET TO SECOND, CONTINUED PENN 's HOUSE IN LETITIA COURT 

THE TOWN HALL OR COURT HOUSE 

Those who desire to see the little house which was the chief attrac- 
tiou of Letitia street must now go out to the West Park, where, at the 
western end of Girard avenue bridge, stands on the embankment on 
Lansdowne drive all that remains of Peun's cottage. New interest was 
attracted to the old building at the time of the bi-centennial of the 
landing of William Penn in 1882, and some patriotic citizens contributed 
to a fund to remove the structure to its present location, where it stands 
on ground that once belonged to a grandson of the Founder. This re- 
moval began in June, 1883, and on October 24tk of the same year the 
committee transferred the building to the Park Commission. 

That he regarded the square from Front to Second on the south 
side of High or Market street as likely to become desirable seems 
to be indicated by the Proprietary's decision to keep half of that block 
for his own use. This lot originally extended from Front to Second, 
a length of 400 feet, and southward for half the block to Chestnut, or 
172 feet. He desired that his house be built on that lot, and when he 
arrived here he found that his orders had been so literally obeyed that 
the house was being constructed almost in the centre of the land. 

It happened, although unknown to Lieutenant-Governor Markliam, 
who had been given directions, that Penn had reserved for his little 
daughter, Letitia, then about eight years of age, the comer lot at the 
southwest corner of Second and Market streets. Wlien the Proprietaiy 
arrived here he discovered that Markham had granted that lot to the 
Society of Friends for a meeting house. Penn was much provoked at 
this misunderstanding of his orders, and in order that his daughter 
might be provided for, he later patented to Letitia the corner lot at the 
southwest corner of Front and Market streets, and this grant included 
the property in what then was Letitia court, where Penn's house stood. 

Penn had given careful instructions as to the size and character of 
his house, and in accoi'dance with his plans it was a small building of 
two and a half stories in height. There is a general impression that the 
bricks in this building had been brought from England for the pur^jose, 
but Thompson Westcott has very reasonably contended that there was 
no necessitj' for so expensive a proceeding, for before the Proprietaiy 
came here there were, especially in Burlington, which is older than 

1- 



18 Makket Street, Philadelphia 

Philadelphia, brick kilns, and that Penn himself notes the canoes here, 
built "of one tree that fetches four tons of bricks," which rather indi- 
cates that bricks were being made here before his arrival. 

The house in Letitia court was unfinished when Penn arrived, and 
it appears that he went to Fairman's house at Shackamaxon until it 
was in condition for him to dwell in. As there was no other available 
building in the city the Provincial Council and the Government generally 
had its headquarters in this mite of a building, which literally could be 
placed in one corner of the Mayor's reception room in the present City 
Hall. 

When he left the city in 1684 Penn left instructions for his Lieu- 
tenant Governor to occupy his house. This much is inferred from a 
letter from Penn in 1687, in which he wrote : ' ' Your improvements now 
require some convenieney above what my cottage has afforded you in 
times past." Penn returned to the city in 1699, and at that time, or 
before it, the office of the Government was removed from Letitia House. 

When he came a second time Penn brought his daughter, now a 
woman of about twenty-five years, whose principal interest during her 
stay was to convert her property into pounds, shillings and pence. 
It is true that she seems to have had a flirtation with William Masters, 
who was popularly supposed to be her betrothed, but she and her step- 
mother made life unpleasant for Penn until he consented to take them 
back to England. Once back in England, Letitia married Aubrey, to 
the surprise of some good people here, including Mr. Masters, and from 
what has been gleaned from the letters of Penn, his son-in-law and 
daughter never ceased to cry for more money. 

During the second visit of Penn he resided in the Slate Roof House, 
then on South Second street, which was a more generoiis mansion and 
more in keeping with the ideas of his wife and daughter, who were used 
to their comforts and did not relish the pioneer's limited conveniences. 

It was during this period that an alley was opened through from 
Second street to Letitia court, in addition to the alley which opened on 
Market street. This was called Ewer's alley and subsequently Black 
Horse alley, evidently from the tavern sign that was displayed from an 
inn on its line. 

Letitia court did not attract any opulent dwellers, although Chris- 
topher Ludwiek, the gingerbread baker, who had a shop in the street 
before the Eevolution, retired with a competence. Ludwiek probably 
lived in the building numbered 3 in 1795 and in 1801, for in both years 
this building was occupied by bakers. In the years before the Revolu- 
tion, also, there was a famed "beer house," conducted by a man named 
Knight, and this business was a feature of the street until about 1882, 
when there were two taverns beside each other, Nos. 8 and 10, each of 
them making claims on their signboards to be the original William Penn 



Its Merchants and Its Story 19 

House. But the claim of No. 10 was baseless. There never was any 
uncertainty about the building No. 8 being the real Penn Cottage, since 
the Penn Society gravely gave a dinner in one of the spurious houses 
in 1825 to coimnemorate the landing of Penn. 

This dinner, at which speeches were made by some of the city's 
most prominent men, was given in a tavern which is said to have 
been erected across the court in the middle of the eighteenth century. 
In 1825 this place was known as the Leopard tavern, but after the 
meeting of the Penn Society its proprietor changed his sign to "Penn 
Hall." But the society seemed to have some fear that it had been hasty 
in deciding that the Leopard was the Penn Cottage, and an investigation 
was begun which established the right house for all time. The Penn 
Society, however, continued to hold its annual dinners at "Penn Hall" 
until 1836, when the organization appears to have dissolved. In 1880 
the Penn House, that numbered 8, was known as the "Woolpack Inn." 

Letitia court opened from Market street and terminated at Black 
Horse alley until 1856, when the street was opened through to Chestnut 
street. 

Aside from Penn and his Lieutenant Governors who occupied his 
cottage in the little street, the most conspicuous resident in Letitia 
court was Ludwick, who, in his own simple and unconventional way, 
rendered great assistance to the Continental Army during the struggle 
for independence. Ludwick was a native of Hesse-Darmstadt, who came 
to this country in 1753, and after learning the business of a confectioner 
and gingerbread baker set up in business for himself in Letitia court. 

Having lost his only child while it still was an infant, Ludwick 
thereafter led a retired life, attending to his trade and gaining the 
respect of his neighbors, who loved to allude to him as "Governor of 
Letitia Court." He was one of the first to feel the call of the people 
for liberty and otfered his services to his adopted country. He was 
elected a member of committees and as delegate to conventions, and 
when the question of funds arose, he was the first to offer money from 
his little store. He was appointed baker general of the anny and served 
in that capacity without pay and even provided his own rations. It was 
mainly through his efforts that the Continental soldiers had good bread 
to eat when other provisions were scarce, and he saw to it that the bread 
was good. 

He won the recognition of Washington, who publicly thanked him 
for his efforts, and it was mainly due to Ludwick's influence with the mer- 
cenaries that hundreds of Hessians deserted and sought a pennanent 
home in this country. He went to the Hessians in disguise and spoke 
to them of the character of the country and of its people and of the 
fine opportunity every man had here. The old gingerbread baker's 
services did not end with his death, for in his will it was found that he 



20 Market Street, Philadelphia 

had left a sum of money for the establishment of free or charity schools 
and, while there no longer is any need for this fund for its original 
purpose, it has been conserved and free lectures are now given every 
3'ear from the income of the fund. 

During the epidemic of yellow fever in the city in 1793, eighteen 
persons died of the disease in Letitia court, or in the proportion of one 
to a house. 

Before we leave the neighborhood of Front street it should be re- 
called that the first attempt to erect an elevated railroad in this city 
had Front and IMarket streets for its terminal point. This road, which 
was called the Northeast Elevated Eailroad, secured permission to open 
Front street between Market and Vine streets in February, 1893, and 
during that spring the first iron pillars were actually put in place in 
Front street north of Arch. At that time there were meetings of protest 
along the proposed line of road, and finally an injunction was obtained 
that caused work to cease. As a result of the litigation the iron pillars 
were removed and the first elevated-subway road had to wait fourteen 
years before it was built and open for traffic. And then it did not 
connect with the northeast part of the city. 

An ordinance of Councils in March, 1887, authorized the Metro- 
politan Eailway Company to construct an underground road from the 
Delaware County line to the ferries under Market street, with branches 
under Broad street, to say nothing of numerous other spans. However, 
nothing more was heard of the project. 

There are found in the early directories very few names of residents 
of Market street between Front and Second beyond those already alluded 
to that recall any historic memories. In 1795 there were small trades- 
men on the south side for the gi'eat part. It is true that at what tlien 
was number 36 lived Eobert S. Stafford, whose sigTi told passersby that 
he was a doctor of physic, and at the east corner of Letitia court dwelt 
Alexander Fullertou, merchant, neither name likely to recall to the 
average reader any unusual event. If we might lie permitted to specu- 
late, it might be suggested that FuUerton was a relative of that unfortu- 
nate young man, John Fullerton, who was an actor in the company of 
the old Chestnut Street Theatre, and who took his life by drowning in 
the Delaware river in January, 1802. Fullertou was a highly nervous 
man and only a passably good actor. For some reason that never seems 
to have been revealed the critics and ruffians went to the theatre and 
tormented him so that he was on the verge of insanity. After an un- 
successful attempt at suicide in his lodgings, he eluded his friends and 
was found drowned. Mathew Carey was so acutely incensed by the 
brutal treatment the man had received that he wrote a pamphlet berat- 
ing Fullerton 's enemies and generally asserting that a dramatic critic 
had no right to be cruel. 







O 2 



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Its Merchants and Its Story 21 

On the north side of the street, at what then was No. 41, and is 
now represented by No. 125, we find that William Ball, described in 
the directories as gentleman, lived in 1795. Ball was a retired merchant 
and planter and the owner of Riclunond Hall and Balltown, in Port 
Richmond, which took its name from his manor, and whose site is partly 
covered by the Cramp shipyard. Ball was distantly related to Washing- 
ton, the latter 's mother having belonged to another branch of the family 
in England. William Ball was born here in 1729 and died in 1810. He 
was appointed the first Provincial Grand Master of the Ancient (York) 
Order of Free Masons in 1791, by the English Grand Master, the Earl 
of Kellie. Ball in 1795 was again Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of 
Pennsylvania, and was a large coutribntor to the erection of tbe first 
Mason's lodge or meeting place in Lodge alley. He left no descendants, 
but the late Sarah P. Ball Dodson, who achieved celebrity for her paint- 
ings, was of his family. Her brother, R. Ball Dodson, had been living 
in Brighton, England, for many years. 

In 1791, John Hart, who was one of the pioneers in the drng trade 
in this city, lived at what then was No. .37, and was on the site of the 
present 121. Hart was the preceptor of John Speakman, Jr., and had 
learned the business from the elder Speakman. At No. 25, now 109, 
in the same year, Joseph Bispham had his hat store. He removed from 
the city and took his family with him to New Jersey on the outbreak 
of the yellow fever in 1797, but his son Samuel became one of the fore- 
most wholesale grocers in the city, and during the first half of the last 
century was one of the city's eminent merchants. He, too, had his stores 
on Market street, but in his time business had moved toward the west- 
ward and he had his places among the most progressive men. 

In the same block on Market street in 1795, lived at No. 55, now 139, 
James Hutton, who probably was a connection of Joseph Hutton, who 
in turn was an actor, playwright, journalist and school teacher during 
the first quarter of the last century, and who, according to the memoirs 
of Ann Carson, was much attached to that notorious woman before her 
marriage and before her escapades. Hutton was an iron monger and 
in 1801 his number was 53. At No. 39, at present 123, in the same 
block, lived Ellis Yarnall, also an iron monger, a family name that is 
still familiar in this city. 

Our arrival at Second street brings us to what as late as the end of 
the eighteenth century was regarded as the centre of the city. For up 
to 1837 there stood in the middle of Market street an old building that 
had been the Town Hall, and the County Court building since early in 
the eighteenth century. This was the centre of the governmental activ- 
ities of city and province. Distances from Philadelphia were measured 
from the Old Court House or Town Hall, and in its immediate vicinity 
the city's population was densest. 



22 Makket Street, Philadelphia 

The erection of the Court House at Second and Market streets 
marked a new ejjoch for the city. It is true that, so far as is known, 
there was no ceremony attending the opening of the building, and, as 
a matter of fact, even the date of its erection is only approximate. 
It seems certain, however, that the Court House was standing in the 
year 1709. It became the place for the meeting of the courts, the Pro- 
vincial Assembly and for the city government. Naturally, it was then 
the busiest corner in Philadelphia. Gabriel Thomas in 1698 writes that 
"there is lately built a noble Town House or Guild Hall, also a hand- 
some market house and a convenient prison," but we find the Common 
Council meeting in an inn in 1704, before which date no journal of that 
body appears to have survived. 

In front of it at the time stood the jail, also in the middle of the 
street, and before it the pillory and stocks, which at times during the 
darkness of night were taken off and burned, probably by persons 
who had had some experience of their tortures. Under the Court House, 
also, and designated as the east end of that building, butchers had been 
accustomed to offer their meats, much to the annoyance of the City 
Council and Aldermen, who ordered in 1711 that no meat should be 
"sold on the shambles on the east end of the Court House, but at the 
west only." These stalls were under the Court House itself, as is plainly 
indicated in the Council minutes for 1722. 

In those days the Councils, or, indeed, the City Corporation, had 
no power to levy taxes, and consequently the Council was always on the 
alert to pick up trifles here and there, in order to make both ends meet. 
Thus, the new Court House had scarcely been opened for use when the 
City Fathers of the time, in May, 1711, ordered that "a shop may be 
l)uilt under the Court House stairs and to be let to the best advantage." 

This prison in the middle of the street was found veiy soon to be 
even more "convenient" than Gabriel Thomas had believed. It was 
generally regarded as a nuisance, and in 1700 steps were taken to have 
it removed, but the removal actually does not seem to have been con- 
cluded until about 1723, the year after the new prison, usually called 
the stone prison, was built at Third and Market streets. In 1713 the 
Common Council reported the old jail as being notoriously insufficient, 
that it was a nuisance and prisoners constantly were escaping from it. 

As may be seen in old engravings the Court House had two stair- 
ways, both uniting in front of the building, facing Second street. Until 
1766 all the city elections were held here, and in Dawkins' view and 
in Dove's caricature, a very good impression of the original appearance 
of the structure may be had. After the Revolution the staii"ways, which 
were on the outside of the building, were removed and an interior stair- 
way erected. That accounts for the absence of this means of access to 
the upper stoiy in Birch's picture of the building in 1799. 



-4- 




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Its Merchants and Its Story 23 

The minutes of the Common Council do not leave any very clear 
impression as to the extent and character of the markets in the vicinity 
of the Court House. It seems that east of the i:>rison, or toward Front 
street, there were stalls, and after the removal of the old prison in the 
middle of Market street, stalls were built on its site, although there 
are refei'ences to a new market, and subscriptions for a market house 
actually were collected in 1710. 

In all the pictures of the old Court House there is seen a little 
balcony projecting from the second story. This was the landing to 
which the stairways originally led, and when the great preacher White- 
field came here in 1739 thei'e was no building in the city large enough 
to hold his hearers, and he spoke to the crowd from this balcony of the 
Court House. Wliile it is true that there was much less noise in the 
streets in those days that there is now, it seems remarkable that it 
has been alleged that the sound of the preacher's voice could be heard 
on the Camden side of the river. That distance at Market street is 
exactly one mile. 

At the Court House, and from the same balcony, in provincial days 
it was customary to read all proclamations. It was from this place that 
the citizens of Philadelphia in 171-1 heard proclaimed that George I was 
their new king. 

Beneath the Court House auctions were held for many years. In 
the minutes of the Common Council there are numerous entries of the 
amounts paid by the tenants. One of these was no less a personage 
than the Mayor, Thomas Lawrence, who, it appears, was always prompt 
in settlement. The rent was £25 a year. His predecessor in the lease 
left without paying all of his rent, and also appears to have continued 
until the end of his term. At one time a part of the ground floor under 
the Court House was occupied as the office of a physician, or surgeon, 
as such was called in the middle of the eighteenth centuiy. 

In a painting of the old Court House, executed in 1829, there is 
pictured a building at the northwest corner of Second and Market 
streets that is historic. The building was replaced by another in 1831, 
consequently its appearance is now known generally only through 
Birch's picture. It was the home of John Speakman, Jr., who kept his 
drug store there. A few men, who like himself were interested in nat- 
ural sciences, had been accustomed occasionally to meet and informally 
discuss the subjects dear to them all. One Saturday evening in January, 
1812, a group of these young men, in accordance with a suggestion of 
Speakman, met in the latter 's house, and there fomied a society which 
in March following took its title as the Academy of Natural Sciences. 
In the little group at the first meeting in Spealanan's house were Dr. 
Gerard Troost, Dr. Camillus Macmahon Mann, who at the time lived 
at the southwest comer of Eighth and Chestnut streets ; Jacob Gilliams, 



24 Mabket Street, Philadelphia 

who dwelt in Arch street with his father, a successful dentist; John 
Shinn, Jr., and Nicholas S. Parmentier. This meeting was the germ 
from which sprang the splendid institution known all over the scientific 
world as the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. It should 
be noted that the date of the meeting was January 25, 1812. Afterward 
the group of scientists met at Mercer's cake shop, also on Market street, 
near Franklin place, and by degrees the Academy increased in number 
and grew in importance and influence until now probably it is unequaled 
in certain lines of scientific usefulness. 



CHAPTER IV 

SECOND STREET TO THIRD BRADFORD FRANKLIN COBBETT 

AND THEIR CIRCLES 

Market street at Second, wliere a great deal of history was made 
during the first century and a half of the city, was the scene of the most 
serious accident that ever happened to Stephen Girard. In some re- 
spects that event, too, was historic. 

As probably is generally known, Girard was blind in one eye from 
his boyhood days, and toward the evening of his life his other eye 
began to fail him. Simpson, in his life of the financier, mentions Girard 
feeling his way about his bank on Third street like a man who could 
not see. This feebleness of sight probably contributed something to 
the accident, for as the financier was crossing Second street at Market 
one afternoon in February, 1830, on his way home from his bank, he was 
knocked down by a dearborn wagon, which is said to have been driven 
at reckless speed. 

Girard was then eighty, his vision was poor and the feebleness of 
age was creeping over him. "Whether he attempted to avoid the wagon 
is not known, but as he was knocked down, one of the wheels of the 
vehicle ran over his right cheek, cutting the flesh from the eye to the 
ear, making a fearful gash, and actually cutting off part of the aged 
man's right ear. 

The financier was a familiar figure to nearly every one in the city 
in those days, and no sooner had he been knocked down than several 
l^ersons ran to his assistance. Although suffering great pain, and bleed- 
ing from his wound, Girard was on his feet before his would-be rescuers 
reached his side. 

' ' Stop that fellow ! " he cried, pointing to the rapidly disappearing 
wagon with his cane. 

But those who were now at his hand believed it better to care for 
the injured man. Girard managed to walk home, and Dr. Physic was 
immediately called in and pronounced the injury serious. Fortunately 
the cheek-bone had not been fractured, as was feared, but the partly 
closed eye of the old man was now entirely closed and the sight of his 
other eye became weaker. 

From that time Girard failed perceptibly. When he recovered, he 
seemed to have felt that the time had arrived for him to make his will, 
and in June, while he was convalescent, he dictated that famous testa- 



26 Makket Street, Philadelphia 

ment of his that has survived every judicial ordeal through which it 
has been compelled to pass. 

While we are still at Second street, we should pause before we re- 
sume our journey out Market street to give a backward glance at the 
former dwellers of Second street in this neighboi'hood. 

As Second and Market streets, from the earliest times in the city, 
was the centre of interest and the commercial mart of the Province, it 
may be accepted that somewhere on Second street, not far from the 
Court House, William Bradford had his printing office. He published 
what was regarded in the language of the time, "a seditious paper," in 
the Keith controversy, and was haled before the court, which dignified 
body made an ineffectual attempt to examine him and inspect his print- 
ing shop. It put him in jail and seized his goods. 

But Bradford was the equal of the court. In some manner not yet 
explained he was released from his confinement, probably because he 
was the only printer in the Middle Colonies at the time, and his printing 
press was released, but having received an offer from New York to go 
to that Province and become its official printer, Bradford decided to 
leave Pennsylvania and the Society of Friends, and the following year, 
1693, set up his press in New York City. 

Bradford was apparently succeeded by Reiner Jansen, the younger, 
a Haarlem printer, but there is a belief that Jansen was merely con- 
ducting the business of Bradford in this city, for he was succeeded in 
time by Bradford's son, Andrew, who, in 1719, published the first news- 
paper in Pennsylvania. 

Andrew Bradford's Mercury, which was first issued December 22, 
1719, was not only the first newspaper published in Pennsylvania, but 
the first issued in the Middle Colonies and the second printed in this 
countiy. It was intended for sale in both New York and Pennsylvania, 
and bore the imprint of both the Bradfords, father and son. Andrew 
Bradford, after attaining his majority and learning the trade with his 
father in New York, returned to Philadelphia in 1712, and had his print- 
ing shop in Second street "at the Sign of the Bible." From the year 
of his return to 1723 he was the only printer in the Province and natu- 
rally was a personage. He became postmaster, and this position helped 
him materially to distribute his paper, for he was in position to direct 
the post-riders. It will be recalled that young Fi'anklin appreciated 
the advantage to a newspaper publisher in those days to have the post- 
office in his shop and he left no stone unturned until he had taken the 
postmastership away from Bradford, when, as he took pleasure in re- 
lating in his autobiography, he saw that the post-riders distributed his 
rival's publication as well as his own, although when Bradford was post- 
master he forbade his riders carrying Franklin's paper. 

Samuel Keimer, who was Franklin's first employer when he came 








-■-■i«i5fca»: *^' 



Its Merchants and Its Story 27 

to Philadelphia as a lad, also had his printing shop on Second street. 
Keimer's place was north of Market and close to Christ Church. Frank- 
lin worked here on his first visit and on his return from England, and 
as he, in his usual ready res^Donse to opportunity, managed to set up in 
business as Keimer was failing, it has been supposed that Franklin had 
his shop on Second street, close to Christ Church. There is a picture 
showing this shop, but it is not evidence. 

Thei"e does not appear to be any good reason to believe that Frank- 
lin's shop ever was in Second street. His imprints specifically state that 
his shop was in Market street, but the precise location of his first print- 
ing office must be left to conjecture, but certainly it was not far from 
Second street. 

At "25 North Second street, opposite Christ Church," as his ad- 
dress api>ears on his imprints, was the shop of William Cobbett, who 
was as widely known under his pen name of "Peter Porcupine" as he 
was under his own. Cobbett, who had a most eventful history before, 
during and after his residence in this city, was probably the keenest 
satiiist since Swift, whom, as a writer, he resembled in more than one 
particular. There never has been any invective so scoi'ching, no satire 
more keen, and no English more \drile than may be found in some of 
Cobbett 's Philadelj^hia pamphlets. When he wrote he seemed to have 
invested the language with a new power, and skilful as were some of 
the attacks made upon him by able pamphleteers, among them Mathew 
Carey, himself no mean master of telling English, to the end of his 
Philadelphia career he remained the leader of them all. 

The old building in which Cobbett opened his printing shop in 1796 
was removed many years ago, but it stood on the site of the building at 
present No. 25. It was there that Cobbett began to be his own pub- 
lisher, finding he was being virtually defrauded by the publishers who 
were printing his pamphlets and books. 

Cobbett, who had been in the British anny, discovered while in the 
sei-vice that it was a customary thing for the regimental quartennaster 
to keep about 25 per cent, of the provisions for the men for himself. 
Cobbett, then soon to be discharged, gathered evidence of the fraud and 
laid it before the War department when he arrived in England. There 
he found that instead of laying the subject before the proper officers it 
was to be smothered, and he was to be sent to Botany bay on a trumped- 
up charge of sedition. It was then, with still a few guineas in his pocket, 
that Cobbett decided to cross the Atlantic to the United States. He 
arrived in Philadelphia in October, 1792, and brought a letter of intro- 
duction to Jefferson, then Secretary of State. Jefferson infonned him 
that there were few offices to be distributed among the office seekers, 
and that none of them was lucrative, anyhow. Thus Cobbett, who had 
a strong feeling of sympathy with the Americans, and a very high opin- 



28 Market Street, Philadelphia 

ion of tlie character of Washington, failed to become an American 
citizen. 

He taught English to Frenchmen, who were coming here in large 
numbers, and when Dr. Priestley arrived, an exile from England, 
Cobbett wrote liis first pamphlet, ' ' Observations on the Emigration of a 
Martyr," in which Priestley and his doctrines were attacked with a 
vigor that must have astonished the doctor. 

In a letter he afterward wrote to William Pitt, Cobbett declared 
that between the summer of 1794 and 1800, he wrote twenty pamphlets 
that had a combined circulation of half a million copies. During the 
first three years he was in this city Cobbett wrote for publishers, but 
in 1796 he determined to become his own publisher. He took the house 
at 25 North Second street, paid a year's rent in advance, set up a press 
and began to berate his enemies. One of the first pamphlets from his 
press was "The Life and Adventures of Peter Porcupine," etc., "By 
Peter Porcupine Himself." The title contains a quotation from Shakes- 
peare : ' ' Now, you lying varlets, you shall see how a plain tale will put 
you down." 

Cobbett had been hounded by Bache, of the Aurora, and had on one 
occasion knocked him down during a passage in the Cross Keys tavern. 
His experience in this city convinced him that republican institutions, 
as he then observed them, were not to be preferred to a monarchy such 
as England was. Cobbett, who attacked the enemies of Washington, 
was generally believed to be in the Federal party's pay, but this prob- 
ably was a mere surmise. In order to shock the people he hung up in 
his window in Second street all the portraits of kings, queens and 
princes he had in his possession. He arranged his window before he 
took the shutters down, and in his own words Philadelphia was prop- 
erly shocked at his daring to exhibit hated aristocratical portraits. 

"Early on the Monday morning." he said, describing his opening, "I tooU 
down my shutters. Such a sight had not been seeu in Philadelphia for twenty 
years. Never since the lieginning of the Rebellion had any one dared to hoist 
at his window the portrait of George III. 

"In order to make the test as perfect as possible, I had put up some of 
the worthies of the Kevolution, and bad found out fit companions for them. 
I coupled Franlflln and Marat together, and in another place McKean and 
Ankerstrom." 

The following year Cobbett began the publication of a weekly news- 
paper, which he called Porcupine's Gazette. This was strongly Federal 
in character and never had a good word for Eepublicans. In spite of 
his attitude the Gazette had the largest circulation of any newspaper 
published in this city. His attacks on Bache, who was a grandson of 
Franklin, led to the circulation of the Aurora falling off and of many 
advertisers withdrawing their advertisements. Bache had attacked 
Washington, and from his pi*ess came those scandalous forged letters 



Its Merchants and Its Story 29 

that were intended to cast aspersion on the good character of the Father 
of His Country. But they were met boldly by Cobliett, and not only 
were the letters destined to lose their intended influence, but Bache, 
as well, suiTered from the attacks of Peter Porcupine. 

The yellow fever of 1797, which was almost as violent as the visita- 
tion in 1793, found Dr. Rush bleeding patients as a curative. Thousands 
died, and Cobbett led the attack on Eush's treatment. 

Rush brought suit, but the case did not come up for two years, and 
when it did, Cobbett 's enemies were found on the bench. As was to be 
expected, a verdict was brought in giving Rush damages in $5000. It 
was intended to shut up Col)bett forever. But his friends subscribed 
the amount and jjaid it, and Peter Porcupine remained in the city. 
Cobbett had always declared that if his greatest enemy. Judge McKean, 
who was one of his trial Judges, ever was elected Governor of the 
state he would leave it. McKean not long after the trial was elected to 
that high office, and Cobbett was as good as his word. He sold out his 
bookshop and removing to New York began the jiublication of a series 
of pamphlets devoted to attacks upon Dr. Rush. This magazine he 
playfully entitled The Rushlight, but New York did not understand 
Cobbett, and being so far away from the friends he had made in Phila- 
delphia he determined to return to England, which he did. 

Somewhere in Second street, not far from IMarket, but now impos- 
sible of identification, Henry Miller had his printing shop before the 
Revolution. Miller, who was a native of Waldeck, came to this city 
about 1741 and entered Franklin's printing office on ilarket street as a 
journejTxian. After staying there a year he returned to Europe, and 
after many wanderings came back here again in 1751, this time entering 
the employ of "William Bradford. Three years later he went back to 
Europe, but was here again in 1760. This time he was in business on 
Second street, publishing German books and German almanacs. But 
in 1765 he published the "Juvenile Poems of Thomas Godfrey," and 
if he did nothing else he becomes a historic character, for in this volume 
is to be found a tragedy by Godfrey, the first tragedy written, published 
and acted in America, entitled, "The Prince of Parthia." Godfrey was 
a son of that other Thomas Godfrey, the companion of Franklin, one 
of the original Junto, and the inventor of a quadrant, which invention 
it long was believed had been credited to Hadley. Miller remained here 
until his death in 1782, when he was eighty years old. In 1762 he began 
the publication of a German newspaper, entitled Der WochentlicJie 
Philadelphia Staatsbote, which was only discontinued when the British 
entered the city. It was revived for a year after the evacuation by the 
King's ti-oops, but in 1779 Miller published his farewell address and 
discontinued his journal. 

Christ Church, which for almost two centuries has been a conspicu- 



30 Maukkt Street, riiii.Ai>i;i.pniA 

ous object in Sec-ond street, north of Market, need not detain us, for its 
history is so ext<'nsive and so inijiortant that we ."^liall not have time 
to revit'W it lioyond recalling those few facts in its career that are already 
widely known. The present Imilding. which was designed hy l)r. John 
Kinnersley, who left part of his fortune to establish Christ Church 
Ilosjiital. was erected some time between the years 1727 and 1731. It 
is recogiiizeil by architects as one of the finest exami)les of Colonial 
church areliitecture to be found in America today. The first church 
which stood on this ])l(>t. a wooden stnictun'. was erected in K)!)') and 
was twice enlarged, making it virtually a new building. The last en- 
largement of the old building was made in 1720. 

The ])resent building was altered in IHM by the archite<'t, Thomas 
U. Walter, who designed the dome of the Cajutol at Washington, and 
was the architect of Girard College. A few years ago, in order to pro- 
tect the sacred sjiot from ravages of fire. Church street was widened, 
and the structure which adjoined the church on the nortii was removed. 
An alley along the west side of the building also was provided, and now 
the church is ])erfectly isolated. Yet a few years ago, in 100<», lightning 
stnick the steeple and fired it. The upper j)art of the steei)lc was de- 
stroyed, but has been restored to its original condition. 

Somewhere in this block was Andrew Steuart, a Scotch-Irishman, 
who with Annbruster printed the majority of the political iiamphlets 
issued here in the days before the Revolution. Steuart, when he first 
came here from Ireland in 1758, opened a little i)rinting establishment 
in Letitia street. When he moved to Second street, nortli of Market, 
he hung out as his sign a Bible in a heart. His i)ress was rather busy 
during the pamphlet war at the time of the Paxton boys' trouble in 1764, 
and these prints are now esteemed for their rfirity. 

In 1788 there was another Stewart, as he sjielled his name, also on 
Second street. Peter Stewart's place was, as his im])rint was careful 
to note, on the west side, nintli door above Cliestnut Street. In the 
year mentioned Stewart iniblished "The Proverbs of Solomon and 
Ecclesiastes" for "the education of youth." In this now rare volume 
the translator, in order not to corrupt the morals of the youth, whom 
he desired to instruct, found some words and jiassages too liurning for 
paper, and had the printer indicate tliiir jiosition witli the usual 
asterisks, which gave the book tlie niii)earance of containing only the 
ashes of i)assionate sentences. 

There is a fascination about old Second street in this locality that 
temjis one to linger in the neighborhood, but we must continue our fre- 
(juently inteniijjted journey out Market street. 

At the southwest comer of Second and Market streets there stood 
until 1^10 the meeting house of the Society of P"'riends. This building 
occupied the lot that Penn's Governor, Markham. gave to the Friends, 



Its Merchants and Its Story 31 

although the Founder had reserved it for his daughter Letitia. The 
old building was erected on the lot in 1712, and consequently occupied 
the site for almost a century. The Arch Street Meeting House was 
erected in 1804 and to the new building the Friends moved soon after- 
ward. It will recur to all who have read Franltlin's "Autobiography" 
that the tired young printer after his arrival at Market street wharf 
one Sunday morning in the year 1723, wandered into the meeting and 
finding the congregation silent, soon fell asleep on one of the benches. 

A few doors westward of the Friends' Meeting, on the same side 
of Market street, stood, in the middle of the eighteenth century, the 
Royal Standard tavern. In 1749 a lodge of Free Masons was accus- 
tomed to meet there, but earlier, in 1735, a lodge met at the Indian King, 
nearer Third street, also on the same side of the street. While the 
exact location of the Eoyal Standard cannot be determined, there were 
taverns later in the century at what is now No. 214, the east corner 
of Strawberry street, and at No. 220, three doors west of Strawberry. It 
seems probable that one of these was the Royal Standard, but it was 
customary to change the names of inns, and, of course, after the Revo- 
lution, or, indeed, after 1776, no Royal Standard tavern would be likely 
to advertise that sign. 

The Indian King, however, retained its sign until the end of the 
eighteenth century and was a noted inn. It stood on the west corner of 
what is now Bodine street, at No. 240, although the original building 
has long since been replaced. John Biddle seems to have been either 
the original ijroprietor or one who had the place for many years, for 
the alley next the house was known as Riddle's alley until the beginning 
of the last century. This narrow passageway runs south to Elbow lane. 

On the north side of Market street, between Second and Third, there 
still exists a narrow alley, once known as Grindstone alley, which con- 
nects Church street with Market. It appears never to have been the 
residence of anybody, but in the directory for 1795 we learn: "No per- 
sons living here but John Foulke, Doctor of Physic. ' ' 

At what would be the present No. 207 John Fenno, who was for a 
few years an esteemed newspaper publisher, editor and printer, had his 
plaee in the last decade of the eighteenth century. Fenno had estab- 
lished his Gazette of the United States in New York when the seat of 
Government was there in 1789. Wlien the capital of the nation was 
removed to this city Fenno and his Gazette came, too. He insisted that 
his paper was independent of party, but it soon became evident, espe- 
cially when the French enthusiasm began to run riot in Philadelphia, 
that the Gazette was intensely Federal. The Gazette supported Adams 
unreservedly and attacked the so-called "French faction." The first 
issue of the Gazette in Philadelphia bears the date April 14, 1790. 
Three years later Fenno issued an evening edition of his paper. 



32 Market Street, Philadelphia 



Like Cobbett, Fenno, through the columns of his paper, answered 
the attacks of Benjamin Franklin Bache in his Aurora and General 
Advertiser. During Washington's administration Bache affected to 
see nothing good in the Federal party, or, for that matter, in Washing- 
ton himself. Fenno 's Gazette became the organ of the Administration, 
but probal)ly did not have the influence of Cobbett 's paper. Fenno was 
a native of Boston and was one of the victims of the yellow fever during 
the visitation of the epidemic in 1798. By a singular coincidence his 
strongest antagonist, Bache, fell victim to the same disease within a 
week and perished. 

Two doors east of Grindstone alley, on the site of No. 219, the 
father of Charles Bobert Leslie, one of the greatest painters Philadel- 
l>hia produced, had his shop. Leslie, the painter, was a younger child 
of his father, Eobert Leslie, a successful clock and watchmaker. He 
was born in London while his father was residing there as European 
agent for his firm, Leslie & Price. The elder Leslie was recalled to this 
country in 1799, owing to the death of his partner, and it was when he 
was a boy of six that young Leslie first saw Philadelphia. A lawsuit 
with the executors of Mr. Price's estate followed, and the tediousness 
and expense of this told on the father, and in 1804 he died, leaving his 
family very little property. Then Charles was put with the booksellers, 
Bradford and Innskeep, who noted his talent for drawing and sent him 
to England to study. Thereafter, owing to his residence in England, 
he became rather more British than American, and indeed, in catalogues 
he still is claimed for the British school. 

In the third house west of Grindstone alley, the site at present 
numbered 227, Joseph Cruikshank, the Quaker printer and bookseller, 
had his shop for many years. Cruikshank, an api^rentice with Steuart, 
opened a shop on Third street below Market, but in 1770 he moved to 
the Market street address. There he ]mblished many books for the 
Friends. He brought out the pamphlets of Anthony Benezet, and also 
had the distinction of giving to the world the first American edition of 
"The Imitation of Christ" that bore any resemblance to completeness. 
Sower, the Germantown printer, published an abridged edition, trans- 
lated by a lady, to quote the title, in 1749; but Cruikshank printed 
Payne's translation, which is complete, excepting for the last book, 
which was omitted. 

On this side of Market street, between Second and Third, also dwelt 
at various times in the eighteenth century other prominent Philadel- 
pbiaus. In 1785, for instance, and even as early as 1768, there lived 
three doors west from Cruikshank, on the site of the present No. 255, 
Deshler, of the firm of Deshler & Roberts, iron mongers. Deshler liuilt 
the house in Gemiantown now known as the Morris House, on German- 
town avenue, opposite Church lane. This dwelling was the ^^Tiite House 




.-s 



CHAItLES rjOBEUT I-ESI.IE 

Artist, wlidso jn'ofessioiiiil i-;in>('i- \v;is siieiil 
in Knuhiiid 



Its Merchants and Its Story 33 

during the period of the yellow fever in Philadelphia in 1793, for there, 
safe from infection. President Washington dwelt. Deshier was famed 
in his time for his splendid attire. He favored olive-colored silk velvet 
and bright silver buckles, and astonished the plain tnistees of the old 
Academy in Germantown when he attended his first meeting as one of 
their number by reason of his full dress "regalia." 

Next door to Deshier on Market street in 1767 lived Peletiah 
Webster, who had just retired from the Union School (Academy) in 
Germantown as English master and was then in trade. 

Opposite to Deshier 's house on Market street, on the site of No. 238, 
in 1795, lived Hilaiy Baker, who was a son of Hilarius Becker, the first 
German master of the Germantown Union School. Baker anglicized his 
name and became a prominent man in public affairs here, sei'ving as 
Mayor of the city during 1796 to 1798. 



CHAPTER V 

SECOND STKEET TO THIRD, CONTINUED STRAWBERRY STREET'S 

INHABITANTS SAMUEL ARCHER 

Our interest in the square on Market street, between Second and 
Third streets, includes more than could well be reviewed in the last 
chapter. For more than a century on the south side of the street, at the 
east corner of Bank street, which was called White Horse alley early 
in the last century, and earlier formed a part of Elbow lane, there stood 
the First Presbyterian Church, which numbered among its congregation 
many men of influence and prominence in the Province and State. 

Very few years after the city was settled it became evident that 
Quakers did not by any means compose the entire population. But for 
some time there were no places for worship other than the meeting 
houses of the Society of Friends. The appearance of Francis Makemie, 
a Presbyterian, who came to the city about 1692, just at the time that 
George Keith's heresy was scandalizing the Friends, brought together 
Presbyterians in the city, and they organized a church. They formed 
an amicable understanding with such Baptists as were in the city, and 
together they worshipped in a storehouse belonging to the Barbadoes 
Company. This building was situated at the northwest comer of Second 
and Chestnut streets, and the only available minister was a Baptist 
clergyman, the Rev. John Watts, whose charge was at Pennepeck. 

For several years this union service was conducted in the old store- 
house, and then the Presbyterians decided to call a minister of their 
own. They thereupon invited from Massachusetts the Rev. Jedediah 
Andrews, who became their minister in 1698. Mr. Andrews took charge 
of the little congregation, but the latter was ambitious, and having a 
minister of their own, they naturally desired a place of worship that 
would be theirs, too. Consequently, in 1704 or 1705, they purchased 
property at what is now the southeast comer of Bank and Market 
streets, and erected the first Presbyterian church in Philadelphia. 

This building, which probably was partly, at least, constructed of 
wood, was surrounded by a row of sycamore trees, and in consequence 
of this fine natural setting the church became known as the Buttonwood 
church. Peter Kalm, when he visited the city in 1748, saw the church 
and described it as being near the market — the sheds at the time did not 
extend up to Third street — and as having a roof that was hemispherical 
or hexagonal. He also spoke of it as being of middling size. 

34 




■Ly.r. 



Its Merchants and Its Story 35 

Mr. Andrews remained the minister of the church until his death 
in 1747, and after several others had been installed as pastor the Rev. 
Dr. John Ewing, who was destined to play an important part in the 
church life and the educational affairs of the city, became minister in 
1759. At the time Dr. Ewing was elected minister he was professor of 
philosophy in the College of Philadelphia, and he remained pastor of 
the church until he died in 1802. When the University of Pennsylvania 
took over the rights of the College and Academy of Philadelphia, Dr. 
Ewing was elected the first provost. 

In 1793 it was decided that the old church was entirely too small 
for the congregation, although this had been divided at times between 
the Second and Tliird churches, which were offshoots of the First church. 
Thereupon a design for the new edifice was drawn and the style, which 
was of the classic order, is said to have been the first time a Greek 
model had served for a structure in Philadelphia. It had a row of 
Corinthian columns on the front, and these supported a pedment. The 
building was completed in 1794, and the Directory of the following year 
describes the structure as being 88 feet long, 56 feet broad and 40 feet 
high. "It has no gallery; 96 pews on the first floor which will hold six 
persons each. The cellar rents for $200 per annum," is the remainder 
of the data given in Hogan's Directory for 1795. 

There are at least two pictures showing this edifice. One of them 
was engraved by William Birch for his "Views of Philadelphia" in 
1800, but it does not give an adequate idea of the building. Another, 
engraved at a later date, shows the building in all its classic detail. The 
new structure did not suffice for many years. The location opposite 
the market shed, the movement westward of the population and other 
causes combined to make the congregation desire a change. In 1822 
they built and occupied the present building at the southeast corner of 
Washington square and Seventh street, and the Market street building 
was then removed. 

Bank street was not cut through to Chestnut until about a century 
ago. Originally it bore the name Elbow lane, and when it is understood 
that the street entered the block from Market street, and then by a 
right angle made its exit into Third street, the origin of the designation 
becomes intelligible. The old name still clings to that part of the nar- 
row thoroughfare that enters the block from Third street. It was a 
fairly populous street for its size at the end of the eighteenth century. 

Some time after the middle of that century the Market street end 
of the narrow thoroughfare was known as White Horse alley, and this 
was its name until it finally received its present one. There were two 
inns in this short alley in 1795. These were kept by Nathaniel Davis, 
at No. 2, and by John Lauch, further back from Market street in a house 
which bore no number. These probably displayed the signs of the 



36 Market Street, Philadelphia 

Boar's Head and Blue Ball, wMch were there in 1785. In 1801 there 
was an inn at No. 11, but which of these was the original White Horse 
cannot be determined now. William Bomberger, a joiner, John Stowers, 
a constable, and Thomas Patton, gentleman, were among the residents 
there in 1795. In 1801 Thomas Rogers, who is described as merchant, 
had his house at No. 8. 

In this block between Second and Third streets Benjamin Davies, 
bookseller, had his shop in 1795, at what is now 224, but his shop was 
vacant in 1801. 

At the southeast corner of Third and Market streets in 1767 Robert 
Bass had his drug store. He is described in his advertisements as 
apothecary and chemist, and his place of business as "opposite the 
prison." Nothing remains of Bass' establishment, for in 1794 this 
old corner was improved in a manner that caused it to be the admiration 
and pride of Philadelphians. The old building was razed, and in its 
stead there was erected what has been described as the finest business 
block "on the globe." We need not be in ignorance of its appearance, 
for William Birch made a plate of it for his "Views of Philadelphia," 
in 1799. There is another view of the building made for Porter's 
"Picture of Pliiladelphia, " in 1831, when it was regarded as an ad- 
mirable ruin. 

Joseph Cooke, who erected a splendid four-story block in 1794, 
was a jeweler. He conceived a wonderful building improvement, and 
expected that all Philadelphia would be attracted to his shop by the 
magnetism of its magnificence, as that term was then understood. So 
he erected a block containing three stores and dwellings, and all im- 
provements and conveniences then known to building were incorporated. 
The buildings had two cellars. In the subcellars, according to the 
description in Porter's book, "were the kitchens finished with pumps, 
sinks and every convenience; the upper cellars being intended to be 
used as sitting rooms." 

The block, in addition to being "finished in the best manner," was 
highly ornate, with wood carvings, very probably the handiwork of 
William Rush. Wlien the buildings were completed, to quote Porter 
again, "the stores were first occupied by jewelers, and when first opened 
presented a scene of magnificence not surpassed by any place of busi- 
ness on the globe at that day. The carved work and images on the 
building are now in a rapid state of dilapidation," and he notes that it 
was the intention of the lessees of the block to remove them. This was 
done long ago, and there is little left to suggest the finest business block 
on the globe. 

In 1831 the place was an umbrella manufactory. Porter states that 
it had then been occupied for the manufacture of umbrellas for ten 
years. At that time, he states it "generally employed 40 men and boys 




y. 

V. 



— u 






— ' ^ '/- il 

= ■-•—£ 




y< i". 










Its Merchants and Its Story 37 

and 60 women, and has often turned out 400 or 500 umbrellas per day, 
but since the augmentation of the duty on Canton silks, 36 per cent., 
which is now the virtual duty on raw material of the umbrella maker, 
a large part of the export trade has been lost and the manufacturer is 
obliged to depend solely on the home trade." 

In the days when the corner was an umbrella factory, it appears 
from a statement made by Porter, it must have been the lounging place 
of Cupid, for he notes that of the women employed there, "59 have 
been married from this establishment, most of whom are now pleasantly 
situated, their husbands being substantial tradesmen." 

Before we leave the square between Second and Third streets we 
should not forget that one of the most enterprising and extraordinary 
merchants and importers known to Philadelphians in the early years 
of the last century has his abode on the north side near Third on the 
site of 249. This was Samuel Archer, a native of Burlington County, 
New Jersey, who came here about the year 1800 and engaged in the 
retail diy goods trade. At that time he was a man of about thirty- 
seven years. Full of energy, he soon set a pace for his fellow mer- 
chants in the city. His rise to wealth and distinction here was won- 
derful. Within a dozen years after his advent in the city he was one 
of the largest importers and shipping merchants in Philadelphia. He 
was senior member of the firm of Samuel Archer & Co., and later of 
Archer & Bispham. In the days before the War of 1812 his house was 
doing a business of more than $2,000,000 a year, which was remarkable 
for his time, and probably was unequaled by any other merchant then 
in Philadelphia. 

He was one of the largest importers of muslins and other fabrics 
from India, for in those days none of these goods were made here, and 
he also was an extensive importer of China goods, which had great 
vogue. It is said that the net profits of the house one year were $120,000 
and for another year $180,000, figures that called for astonishment from 
all who heard the statements. 

But the War of 1812 put a stop to the imports, and although Archer 
is said to have made several fortunes with apparent ease, he lost them 
just as easily through his generosity to others. He joined another 
merchant, Kobert Ralston, in giving the ground for the Orphan Asylum 
which was built at Eighteenth and Cherry streets, where the Medico- 
Chirurgical College stood until removed for the construction of the 
Parkway. Archer died in 1839, in his sixty-eighth year. His life was 
one of the romances of trade in early Philadelphia, in the days when 
this port was known around the world. 

While we are in this vicinity we might turn into Strawberry street 
for a few minutes. 

Strawberry street, which opens into Market street between the 



38 Market Street, Philadelphia 

present miiuln-rs L'14 ami L'K), was from early iu the eigliteentli century 
a plaee of residence that seems to have I)een rather poimhir and to have 
been also a busy tliorouj^hfare. It had until comparatively recent years 
two or three taverns in it. In tlie early days all of tiiese displayed 
signs. 

Tlius in 17()8 we find the Queen Qiarlotte Inn being kei)t there l)y 
Peter Sutter. It is not jiossible to locate this inn now, hut it probably 
was at either Xos. 8 or 14 or 22. Of these only the last-uametl struc- 
ture stands. All of these buildings were inns in 1795 and in 1801. At 
No. 8 in 1795 John Cormick kejit a tavern and in ISOl this was in the 
l)ossession of Thomas Calvert. At No. 14 in 17!t5 .John Kyan was the 
innkeeper, and he had been succeeded by John Wright in 1801. Josejih 
Douglass had an inn at Xo. I2l2 in 17!)."), but this was the shop of a 
tailor, John Bon.sall, in 1801. 

Some idea of the respectability of the street in the early days may 
be had from the fact that in addition to some small tradesmen there 
were a few persons who were .set down as "gentlemen" occujiyiug 
houses in the street. Christoi)her Marshall, Jr., lived for many years 
at Xo. 24, wbicli Imilding still stands, and it is i)ossible that his father, 
the diarist, who has left us one of the three contemporary accounts of 
the first reading of the Declaration of Indei)endence in the State House 
Yard, lived there also. 

The younger Marshall, who is described as a})otliei'ary in the 
directory for 1795, had retired by 1801, for then he is dwelling in 
Strawberry street as "gentleman." Marshall's house and the house 
on the north side still stands. In one next to it at the south, Xo. 26, 
the Philadelphia Dispensary- had its first home in 1786. This Imilding 
was removed about eight years ago. 

The dispensary, one of the first in this countr\', was organized in 
the spring of the year 1786, and in March a committee obtained from 
Christopher Marshall, Jr., the lease of a building which he owned in 
Strawberrj' street. This dispensary was opened on Ajiril 12, 1786, and 
in response to an advertisement in the newspapers soon became known 
to the poor. 

One of the first advertisements of the institution, which still .sur- 
vives in its sturdy old age on Fifth street north of Walnut, was to this 
effect : 

Tlip (llsp<»tisnry will l>e o|>piie<l In StrinvlM»rry nllpy i>ti Wo<iiiPs<liiy. April 
12tti. Tlioso nnioin; the poor who wish to hiive their ihlldrpii linM-iiItititl for 
the sumll pox under the care of tJie dl.si)ensary are desired to make speetly 
application to some one of the contributors. 

The first eight months the dispensary was in operation its jiatients 
numbered 719. Of these, 562 were di.scharged as cured, 32 died, 7 
were discharged as disorderly, 1 as incurable and 82 were under care 
when the first report was made in December, 1786. The house was 



^ 






.thrift .'■*¥■ ,tnf •ntir in/rrpritt^H^/fi -v mt/t.-iaty 



•wi. ^tt^ .i/ffirt/rn^ ■t4r'Af*ffri^ .tut-^mni^A... 




AX I 



:aki.v A.MiUTiors sr(;(;KSTi(ix I'di; a .mai:ki:t stuiok'I' 

KI.KVATKIi KAIIAVAY 



m^'- 



i 




-.^■-r 



ciutisTornKi; .maksiiall 



Whose (litir.v records the lii'sl public- reml- 
ins of llie I lerlMi'nlioii of IiuleiieiKlcnre 




m^ 7 



ii ^ i 



Its Merchants and Its Story 39 

rented for £40 a year, but as larger apartments were needed the follow- 
ing year this points to the dispensary having been located in a small 
building and in turn this leads to the presumption that the first dis- 
pensary was housed in a building at 26 Strawberry street. In August, 
1787, the institution was removed to a house owned by John Guest, on 
Chestnut street. 

In Strawberry street, in 1767, there dwelt James Smither, who was 
one of the earliest engravers to be in business in America. Smither is 
said to have been formerly an engraver who ornamented guns in London, 
but here he did a general engraving business. An advertisement of his 
in 1768 when he was working at times for Bell, the printer, states that 
he makes metal cuts for printers, engi-aves seals and makes tools for 
bookbinders, meaning their ornamental tools. 

Not a great deal is known of Smither, but when he first arrived 
here, evidently in 1767, he announced himself as engraver and as having 
a drawing school "at the Golden Head, in Strawberry Alley." The 
sign evidently was his own distinguishing mark, as there does not 
appear to have been a tavern with that sign in Strawberry street. The 
following year he had his place "at the first house in Third street from 
the Ci'oss Keys, comer of Chestnut." And that means that his shop 
was next to the corner of Third and Chestnut streets, and south of the 
latter thoroughfare. Smither was an excellent engraver, but he never 
forgot his royalist proclivities. He left the city when the British did, 
but returned in 1786. He is said to have died in 1800, but having had a 
son of the same there is some confusion in following his career. 

Early in the eighteenth century, before 1750, Elizabeth Walton kept 
an inn at the sign of the Mariner's Compass and Four Horseshoes, in 
Strawberiy alley. In this half century also there was the Brig and 
Snow Inn there, and in 1785 there were the signs of the White Horse 
and the Horse and Groom. It is possible that some rear entrance to 
the White Horse was responsible for the later name or part of Elbow 
lane. 

In the first half of the last century there was a Bull's Head in 
Strawberry street, kept by John Evans, and its sign was said to have 
been painted by Benjamin West. On what authority this statement was 
made by Hazard is not known, neither is it to be explained by any other 
reasoning than that the sign had done duty at another Bull's Head, and 
had been painted while West was a mere lad here. It is known, of 
course, that West did some painting here before he went to London to 
study, and if he painted this inn signboard it must have been the work 
of his earliest period. 

It was not until the year 1759 that the market sheds in the middle 
of Market street were extended as far westward as Third. For many 
years previously there were sheds west of the Court House, but these 



40 Makket Street, Philadelphia 

onJy continued about half way up the square. Of course, there were 
stalls of the "Jersey market," as they were called, below Second. It 
is probable that the sheds would have been extended sooner than they 
were had it not been that the residents in the southern part of the city 
began to complain that the distance to the market was too great, and 
that they did not like the idea of being compelled to cross Dock creek, 
which occupied the line of the present Dock street. 

But the New Market, as it was called, was arranged for and the 
first section, that south from Pine street in the middle of Second, was 
built in 1745. This satisfied a demand in that section of the town, and 
left the extension on Market street for a later day. 

Although this extension was built in 1759, we find the Assembly 
petitioned in 1773 for a further extension westward. The City Council, 
having the plan for the proposed market before them for a shed to 
extend from Third street to Fourth in the middle of Market street, 
were in perfect agreement. But the very day the plan was being dis- 
cussed before the city fathers the latter received a petition reciting a 
grievance against the proposed structure. This remonstrance was 
signed by virtually every resident in Market street between the streets 
named, and it is interesting at this time to learn that the complaint 
rested upon the encumbrance such a structure would add to the already 
busy street. 

There were some real progressive residents in those days, and when 
they learned the attitude of Council, they set about rectifying the error 
in their own way. They requested the Council to be party in an amic- 
able suit at law to determine the legal right of the city fathers to 
obstruct the street, saying that they had consulted counsel and had been 
assured that the Mayor and Corporation had no legal right to erect 
stalls. 

Council, even in those days, felt its own importance, and did not 
fancy having property holders and residents objecting to that august 
body when it was going to present the town with an improvement. The 
Council simply ignored both the request and the petition, and gave 
orders to have the new market sheds or stalls built. Then began the 
battle of the market shed. Material was brought to the street and 
workmen began to arrive ready to erect the structure. At the same 
time some of the residents of the street hired wagons and hauled away 
the stones intended for the pillars, and removed the lime and sand. 
Mayor William Fisher looked on at the proceeding in angry astonish- 
ment. A few of the Aldermen viewed this ruthless rejection of their 
authority with ill temper, and gave orders to those who were interfering 
to stop. But the residents were detennined and had their men continue 
to remove all material brought there and deposited on a vacant lot in 
the neighborhood. 



Its Merchants and Its Story 41 

This acute state of affairs continued for almost a week, during 
which time a rough wooden shed or house erected to store lime was de- 
molished and also deposited on the vacant lot. At the end of the week's 
struggle, which was entirely peaceful, as no blows were struck on either 
side, the Council began to see a light and gave orders that the work 
should be stopped and no market erected for the time being. The ad- 
vent of the Revolution two years later kept all Philadelphians rather 
busy, and it was not until 1786 that the sheds were finally continued 
westward to Fourth street. 

It was in this neighborhood that the annual spiking and autumn fairs 
were held in the city. These annual events, which brought mountebanks, 
peddlars and wanderers from all parts of the country, attracted large 
crowds. Virtually eveiy kind of trifling thing was sold at these fairs. 
Even books fonned part of the stock, for books could not be purchased 
as easily in the early years of the eighteenth century as they could 
later. For many years before the fairs were finally abolished they were 
recognized as a public nuisance, but tradition and sentiment permitted 
their return yearly long after their real usefulness had passed. Gabriel 
Thomas, in 1698, asserts that there were three fairs a year held, but 
Watson speaks of only two fairs, one in May and one in November of 
each year, each of which lasted for three days. An act of Assembly in 
1787 finally abolished them. 



CHAPTER VI 

FROM THIRD STREET TO FOURTH FHtST STREET RAILWAY BIDDLES, 

WISTARS, AND COL. THOMAS FORREST. 

It is a little difficult to conceive that when Franklin first came to 
Philadelphia the square on Market street from Third to Fourth street 
should be regarded as the "upper end of High street." Yet it was 
the western edge of the city in 1723, and Watson has sagely suggested 
that it probably was because the paving stopped at Fourth street that 
the young printer walking westward and munching his "great puffy 
rolls," did not proceed further westward in his first walk around the 
city. 

In those days, according to another note to be found in Watson, it 
seems that the woods, which covered the greater part of the city, ex- 
tended nearly down to that point. In the middle of the eighteenth 
centurj^ the eastern border of these woods is said to have been Eighth 
street at Market. It was not until after 1800 that the market sheds in 
the middle of Market street were continued westward from Fourth 
street to Sixth. 

It is very evident that Philadelpliia in its early years grew faster 
than that of any other city in this country. It also is evident that even 
the wisdom of the men in command of the municipal goveniment did 
not expect a growth so extraordinary. Whenever they built a new 
structure it was usually only a few hundred feet westward. Andrew 
Hamilton, who seems to have been one of the most sagacious men of 
his time here, actually made the city gasp when he decided the State 
House should be located between Fifth and Sixth streets. That was in 
1732, and his critics were only pacified by the statement that in that 
location it would be far out of town and the lawmakers would have 
quiet while deliberating. 

So with such views as these there is little to wonder at in the action 
of the City Fathers in removing the city prison at Second and Market 
streets, because it had become a nuisance, and then erecting a new and 
more substantial jail just another square westward. The stone prison, 
as it was called, was erected at the southwest corner of Third and 
Market streets in 1722. One building in the group was designated the 
Debtors ' Prison, and in 1737, and for years after, the prison keeper was 
William Biddle, whose family has become distinguished in each succeed- 
ing generation as wariors, lawyers or judges. 

42 




iiorsi: KKKc'JF.o r.v kkiiakh wis'iai; in ith." 



Slill slandiiip: ;il Ihc imrilnNisI ciiniiT nf 'I'liinl 
and MarUfl sIriH'ts. Wlicii il was li\iill il was 
llie hi.^liest private dwclliiiu in llic rily. 



Its Merchants and Its Story 43 

We must look to Watson for a description of this structure, but it 
would be wise not to put too much faith in the illustration which the 
annalist gives of the prison, for it was drawn from description, and Mr. 
Watson was not more than five years of age when the building was 
removed. Moreover, as he was born and passed his early years in New 
Jersey, it was not until after the Revolution that he was brought as a 
child to this city. Nearly all of the pictures in his valuable "Annals" 
were drawn by an English artist, William L. Breton, who attempted to 
realize pictorially such descriptions as Mr. Watson could give him. 
They are the best pictures we have of many an historic structure, but 
it should be borne in mind that they are liable to err in details. 

From the annalist we learn that the stone prison 

Consisted of a two-story stone building fronting on Higli street for the debtors' 
jail, and another two-story similar building, fronting on Third street, for 
the criminals, called the workhouse — the latter some distance from the 
former, but joined to it by a high wall, forming a part of the yard enclosure. 
The buildings were of hewn stone ; half of the cellar story was alwve ground, 
the roofs were sharp pitched and the garrets furnished rooms for prisoners. 

About the time the Revolution was beginning a new jail was erected 
at the southeast corner of Sixth and Walnut streets. During that con- 
flict the new jail was used for prisoners of war both by the British and 
by the American army, as each held control of the city, consequently 
it was not until the war for independence was concluded that the pris- 
oners were removed from Third and Market streets to the new jail. 
This was ac<?omplished in 1784, and the old structure soon gave way to 
modem buildings for dwellings and stores. 

Next to the northeast corner of Third street, John Bartram, a 
younger son of the famous botanist, had his drug store in 1785. His 
brother Isaac had a drug store on Arch street. John Bartram was a 
son of the elder John Bartram, by the latter 's second wife, who was 
Ann Mendenhall. He was born in 1743. 

There still stands at the northwest comer of these streets the four- 
story building erected by Richard Wistar in 1795. Like the structure 
at the southwest comer, it is one of the few ancient buildings still stand- 
ing on Market street. Richard Wistar was a son of Caspar Wistar and 
brother to Dr. Caspar Wistar, who probably is better recalled by Phila- 
delphians of the present day as the originator of Wistar Parties than 
he is known as a physician and anatomist. 

Richard Wistar, who had been brought up in the tenets of the So- 
ciety of Friends, very early started to do things that caused him to 
be read out of meeting in effect, if not in fact. He sided with the 
patriots in the Revolution, and he married Sarah Morris, a daughter of 
Captain Samuel Morris of the City Troop, who, although a Quaker, 
fought with his command throughout the Revolutionary War. Wistar 



44 Mabket Street, Philadelphia 

was born in 1756 and early applied himself with considerable industry 
to trade. He was an iron monger and hardware dealer, and at the time 
he erected the building at Third and Market streets the firm name 
was Wistar & Konigmacher. They did a wholesale and retail business, 
and, like other members of his family, Eicliard Wistar became wealthy 
and influential. He took a deep interest in the Philadelphia Library, 
in the Pennsylvania Hospital, and in penology here, being for a time 
one of the prison inspectors. 

In those days Richard Wistar had a country place in the neighbor- 
hood of Fifteenth and Spring Garden streets. He called it Hillspach. 
His ground seems to have been rather irregular, and to have extended 
to Green street in one direction, to Broad street in another, and he had 
been heard to remark in his old days that while his building was being 
erected at Third and Market streets he could see the workmen on his 
building from his country place, which indicates how sparsely built the 
city was in 1795. He attained a reputation for punctuality, and is said 
to have in his own life lived the maxims and proverbs made familiar 
by Poor Richard, whose creator he is said to have resembled in some 
of his views and activities. 

In this building in 1814, when Dr. Michael Leib was postmaster, 
the Philadelphia Post-Office was located. 

The great rambling structure at the southwest corner of Third and 
Market streets was erected after the prison was removed, and in 1791 
was the home of John Fries, a successful merchant. That the building 
has been altered since it was originally erected is proven by the part 
of it which is shown in Birch's view of Third and Market streets in 
1799. The structure now is four and a half stories instead of three and 
a half, as shown in Birch's view, and, especially on the Third street side, 
seems to have been enlarged and generally changed. Fries seems to 
have been the original occupant, and remained here until 1813, when 
he removed to Arch street between Fourth and Fifth. His address at 
Third and Market after 1801 was change to 2 South Third street instead 
of 90 High street, although it was the same building. 

Third and Market streets was the eastern limit of the first railroad 
tracks laid on Market street. Even for several years after the West 
Philadelphia Passenger Railway occupied the street its eastern terminus 
was at Third street, and it was the presence of the railroad tracks 
which finally caused Councils to reach the conclusion that the market 
sheds must go. Wlien the project of running street cars first was dis- 
cussed the people were strongly in favor of having the tracks laid on 
other streets and pennit the market sheds to remain, but a compromise 
was reached and the tracks were laid on Market street, and so much 
of the overhanging sheds as would obstruct the proper passage of cars 
was removed. At the same time the paved walk which bordered the 




sorxnwKST c<u;.\"i:i! or xiui;]) and .mai;ki:t streets 



Built prior to 1700 on tlie site of tlie old 
prison ; it once was tlie home of John Fries. 



Its Merchants and Its Story 45 

outside of the sheds was removed, and the tracks ran close to the sheds, 
as they may be found to do on Second street, past the markets, where 
much the same problem has been met. 

When the Legislature in 1830-31 made an appropriation toward 
the completion of the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad, the act had 
incorporated in it the provision that the Mayor, Aldennen and citizens 
of Philadelphia, which was the style of the corporation, 

shall engage to construct and continue the railroad (from Broad and Vine 
streets, where the city limits on the north were reached) down Broad street 
to Cedar (South) street; and also that they be authorized to intersect and 
construct a branch or branches of railroad from any point or points of the 
Pennsylvania Railroad east of the river Schuylkill, and not further north 
than Francis street, and carry the same to any point or points on the river 
Schuylkill or Delaware, within the limits of the said city, and to charge and 
receive the same tolls as may be charged on the Penn.sylvania Railroad, ac- 
cording to the distance. 

This railroad, which, in addition to continuing the Columbia Rail- 
road south on Broad street to South, also branched off at Broad street 
and continued down Market to Third, to Dock, and to the "Draw- 
bridge," as the intersection of Dock street, and the river road, now 
Delaware avenue, continued to be called long after Dock creek ceased 
to exist. 

The Broad street line was completed toward the end of the year 
1833, and then attention was turned to the High, Thii-d and Dock streets 
Railroad, as this branch became known. The controversy which fol- 
lowed lasted for several years, and it was not before 1838 that the road 
was built. There were double tracks eastward on Market street to 
Eighth, where the market sheds were encountered in the middle of the 
street. From that point to Third street there was a single track paral- 
leling the sheds on the north side of the street. 

This was the first municipal railroad in this city. The road was a 
feeder for the Columbia Railroad, and at the same time a convenience 
to the business interests on Market street and on the Delaware river 
front. The ordinances providing for the road stipulated that cars 
should be drawn by "animal power," and at a rate of speed not greater 
than four miles an hour. The road could be used by anybody who had 
a car, providing they entered into a contract with the proper city de- 
partment for the use. All cars had to be numbered and otherwise 
designated, and there was a superintendent of the railroad who had 
charge of keeping count of cars, their loads, and the distance traveled, 
so that the tolls could be collected quarterly. 

There was provision for carrjdng passengers, and for a while a 
passenger car or train left the Exchange, at Dock and Walnut streets, 
at regular intervals each day, and conveyed passengers to Broad and 
Vine streets. In the summer these cars took passengers to the Columbia 



46 Market Street, Philadelphia 

bridge, and they even had an opportunity to make a journey over the 
inclined railway, from the western end of the bridge, past Belmont. 
They also were run to Graj^'s Ferry Gardens, on the lower Schuylkill. 

The consolidation of the various small municipalities and other 
local governments within the county in 1854, gave a new impetus to all 
kinds of local enterprises. When the city, by the act of consolidation, 
grew overnight from a city of four square miles to a metropolis of 130 
square miles, at that time the largest city in the world, so far as area 
makes a city great, it was immediately recognized that the various lines 
of omnibuses were entirely inadequate for the needs of the newer city. 
Interest was being taken in steam railroads all over the country, and 
the tracks of the High and the Broad street railroads, owned by the city, 
had been in successful operation for a good many years, and seemed 
to ijoint a way for the new era of transportation. 

In April, 1854, the Philadelphia and Delaware Eiver Railroad was 
incorporated by the Legislature, and from it grew the Frankford and 
Southwark Passenger Railway, which on Fifth and Sixth streets oper- 
ated the first regular street railway in this city. There is no need to 
go into the history of this road, further than to say that orginally it 
was not intended for a street passenger railway. That was a later 
inspiration, and once started, local investors almost became wild with 
excitement to build city passenger railways. 

There is a view of a proposed elevated railroad for Market street, 
which appears to have been suggested a few years earlier. Its purpose 
seems to have been the erection of a road which would not encroach 
upon the already crowded highway, but would extend very little beyond 
the eaves of the market sheds. As it is a curiosity, the view is repro- 
duced. 

This line on Fifth and Sixth streets was first put into operation 
January 21, 1858, and in July of the same year cars were running on 
Market street as far eastward as Third and two years later the road 
was authorized by ordinance to be extended to Front street. At this 
time, just before the sheds in the middle of the street were removed, the 
West Philadelphia Passenger Railway used a single track east of Eighth 
and had turnouts at several points where cars running in opposite 
directions could pass one another. The ordinance of 1860 permitted 
the laying of a parallel track east of Eighth street, the tracks being in 
the middle of the street. 

Although authorized by the original act chartering the company to 
use any part of the city railroad, or other roads along their line, as the 
company desired, it appears that they did not use the city road, but 
these tracks paralleled the passenger company's, and continued to be 
used for freight transportation until finally removed after the Civil 



Its Meechants and Its Stoey 47 

war. It was nearly a dozen years after that war before all the freight 
tracks had been removed from Market street east of Broad. 

There was a court named Rapin's court that formerly opened off 
from the south side of Market street, west of Thii'd. There is no indi- 
cation of this passageway now, but it was a four-feet wide alley and ran 
between the present properties numbered 312 and 314. Although it 
seems to have widened in the rear, there is no mention of dwellers in 
the court in the early directories. Originally it appears to have been 
a passage or road on the west of the stone prison, but how it received 
its name cannot now be determined from any accessible data. This 
court appears on maps of the city as late as 1859, and it is also indicated 
on early maps. It is indicated on the map of 1762 ; it is on Varle's map 
of about 179-1 and on Paxton's map of 1811. 

Before we leave Third and Market streets it might be noted that 
the late B. F. Dewees started his retail dry goods business on the north 
side of the street, at No. 303, about the beginning of the Civil war, next 
to the building erected by Richard Wistar, who had his store on the 
south side at No. 96, now 306, while his building at the northwest corner 
was being erected. 

On the site of the present 325 Market street lived John Wister, a 
younger brother of the first Caspar Wistar who came to this country. 
And before we go further, the difference in spelling of the name ob- 
served by the brothers needs some explanation, for it has confused many 
into a belief that either one or the other spellings denoted the Wister 
or Wistar. As a matter of fact, the whole confusion arose at the time 
that Caspar Wistar became naturalized here. At that time the clerk 
probably without asking for information spelled the named Wistar. It 
seemed a matter of no importance to Caspar, but later he found that he 
had permitted that spelling to become legalized, and the reason why 
owners of either name today are so particular is that when property 
is passing it becomes a matter of real importance whose property is 
being transferred, or to whom, and the difference of a letter in a name 
might prove annoying. 

Caspar Wistar, whose name in Germany was spelt Wuster, with a 
dieresis over the u, came from Hillspach, near Heidelberg. He was 
born in 1696, and leaving his home to find his fortune in America 
arrived in Philadelphia in September, 1717. 

His father was a Jager in charge of forests of the Palatine, and 
Caspar brought with him his old Jager rifle which he had carried in 
assisting his father. Here he soon established himself as a manufac- 
turer of buttons and glass, and in this business is said to have been 
the pioneer in this country. He prospered and was thrifty, and as a 
consequence he rapidly amassed wealth, largely represented by real 



48 Market Street, Philadelphia 

estate. He was the father of Dr. Caspar Wistar and of Richard Wistar, 
whom we have just mentioned. 

Ten years after Caspar arrived here, and after his father's death, 
his younger brother, John Wister, for so he and his descendants 
always spelt their name, came to Philadelphia from Gennany. He is 
said to have had little more than his hands and a determination to suc- 
ceed to assist him, but, like his brother, he prospered. Arriving here in 
1727, we find him in 1731 purchasing a large lot of ground near Fourth 
and Market streets. 

At this time, it is said, Wister 's lot was covered with a thick growth 
of blackberry bushes. Instead of ruthlessly cutting this growth and 
throwing it away, John Wister gathered the berries and converted them 
into wine. Of course, he sold the wine, and the venture was so success- 
ful that he began the importation of wines from his native country. 
But, as with Girard at a later date, the importation of wines was a side 
issue. Wister also imported implements of husbandry and gained his 
fortune in the hardware trade. He made it his habit to invest in real 
estate all his money not needed in his business and it is said of him 
that until his death in 1789 he never parted with any jjarcel of real 
estate he had purchased. 

He bought houses and stores along Market street ; he bought a large 
tract of ground in Gei'mantown and Bristol township and his woods 
extended along the side of the present Wister street for its entire 
length. He owned other property in Gennantown, one piece of which 
contained his "Big House," where he dwelt in the summer season. His 
winters were spent on Market street, and it was there that he died in 
1789 at the age of eighty-one years. He lies buried in the Friends' 
Burying Grounds at Fourth and Arch streets, but, of course, there is 
no indication of the spot where his remains were interred. 

His son Daniel also lived in the Market street house, and on this 
building, it is said, one of the first lightning rods advised by Franklin 
in 1749 was erected in this city. Descendants of the Wisters still cherish 
a piece of this rod, which is hexagonal in shape. The statement has 
been made that this was the first lightning conveyor erected by Frank- 
lin, but this appears to be erroneous, for it was on his own dwelling that 
the many-sided printer placed the first rod. Once, to Franklin's im- 
mense satisfaction, the lighting rod on his house received a tremendous 
bolt of the electric fluid. The copper point was melted, but the phi- 
losopher's home was saved. 

Next to John Wister 's on Market street dwelt his brother Caspar, 
but the exact location of his house is not easily ascertained now, beyond 
the fact that at one time it was in the north side of Market street and 
near Fourth. 

While we are so near Fourth street we may give a little attention to 




LIETTT.-COLOXKL THOMAS FORIIEST 
Quaker, soldier, playwriirht mid cimsressuiaii 



Its Merchants and Its Story 49 

anothei' remarkable character of the eighteenth century who lived here, 
Colonel Thomas Forrest, who also afterward lived in G-ermantown and 
became closely associated with that town's interests. 

Colonel Forrest, although a Quaker, as a young man was a rather 
dashing person and given to practical joking. At the outbreak of the 
Eevolution he organized a company of scouts, who are said to have 
attired themselves as Indians. WTiether this is true, he certainly was 
appointed captain of a company of marines by the Committee of Safety 
in the spring of the year 1776. He was authorized to recruit his force 
and to ser\^e with the floating battery in the Delaware. 

In October, the same year, he was commissioned captain of the 
second company of Major Proctor's artillery. With this command he 
was present at the battle of Trenton, and when Proctor raised a regi- 
ment of artillery the next year Forrest was commissioned major, and 
in 1778 pi'omoted to be lieutenant colonel. He held this rank until he 
resigned in October, 1781, almost at the close of the war, in which he 
had served actively for more than five years. 

Colonel Forrest in 1785 lived on the north side of Market street 
between Fourth and Fifth sti'eets, but in 1791 we find him located next 
door to the corner of Fourth, on the site of the present No. 339. At 
that time he is described as purchaser of certificates and paper money. 
A few years later he retired to Germantown, where he spent the re- 
mainder of his life in his estate on the Main street, "Pomona Grove," 
next to the Upper Burying Ground. 

As a youth he attended the school of David James Dove in Videll's 
alley, and afterwards he used as characters in a most amusing but 
very broad farce, which he described as a comic opera, both Dove and 
his assistant, John Reily. Other well-known local characters of the 
time were mercilessly lampooned in the piece, notably the printer, 
Anthony Armbruster, and the play created a great deal of amusement 
among the knowing Philadelphians. 

The piece was entitled, "The Disappointment, or the Force of 
Credulity," and was first published in 1767. On the title page the 
author's name is given as Andrew Barton, and the imprint is New 
York, but it is known that it was published here. The play was placed 
in rehearsal at the old Southwark Theatre by Hallam's Company, but 
when the day of performance arrived the manager announced that in 
consequence of the numerous local allusions the play had been with- 
drawn. A second edition of the play, much enlarged, was printed in 
1796, and both editions now are very rare. Had Forrest's play been 
produced, it would have been the first native dramatic piece to receive 
a presentation in a theatre. As it was the manager quickly announced 
for production "The Prince of Parthia," by Thomas Godfrey, the 
younger, and as it was played shortly afterwards, it became the first 



50 Makket Street, Philadelphia 

American play to be acted, as it was the first native tragedy to be 
written. 

Up in Germantown Thomas Forrest lived a quiet life. He took a 
deep interest in the Germantown Academy, and in 1794 was chosen one 
of its trustees. Five years later he was elected president of the board. 
He resigned in 1806. From 1819 to 1823 he represented his district in 
Congress, and died in 1825 at the age of seventy-seven years. 



CHAPTER VII 

FBANKLIN AND HIS FAMILY IN FRANKLIN 's COURT JAMES WILSON, 

WILLIAM GODDARD AND THE BAILEYS 

Readers of Franklin's "Autobiography" need not be told that 
Market street between Third and Fourth streets was the scene of one 
of the first striking incidents in his Philadelphia career, and all who are 
familiar with the story of his life will know that it was in this block 
that he spent the last years of his life. 

In October, 1723, when Franklin, then not quite eighteen years of 
age, landed at Market street wharf, between eight and nine o'clock one 
Sunday morning, with a Dutch dollar and about a shilling in coppers 
in his pocket, the houses in the city were unnumbered. Consequently 
it is not possible to locate many of the buildings with which the young 
printer's career was connected here. There are to be found in the pages 
of his fascinating "Autobiography" occasional remarks and statements 
which do let us get within a few himdred feet of the various houses in 
which he lived or in which he visited friends. 

We have his own words for the fact that John Read, who became 
his father-in-law, lived on Market street, then High street, between 
Third and Fourth streets. It is true that we do not know on which side 
of the street he lived, but Franklin has left us an impression of the 
scene when he walked out High street eating a roll, and with others 
under his arms, passed the door of John Read. 

Miss Read, a very young girl, was standing at the door and watched 
the hungi-y young man as he walked and lunched. He noticed the smile 
that lightened up her face as she viewed the strange object, and in 
later life he admitted that he must have made "an awkward, ridiculous 
appearance." He walked out to Fourth street, which was at that time 
"the upper end of High street," and continued to Chestnut and then 
finally foimd himself at Market street wharf again. 

It was in John Read's house that, a few days later, Franklin was 
taken to board, for his employer, Keimer, did not like the idea of his 
journeyman working for his rival, Bradford, with whom the young man 
lodged at first. John Read, as may be seen by an advertisement in the 
Mermry for 1723, was a carpenter. In that newspaper there is an ad- 
vertisement of a i^erson who is stopping with him who is willing "to 
teach poor negroes to read the Holy Scriptures without expense to their 
masters," and this indicates that Mrs. Read supplemented her husband's 

51 



52 Maeket Street, Philadelphia 

income as a house carpenter by taking boarders. Also, as may be 
learned from another advertisement, she sold ointment for the cure of 
the itch, and generally was a helpful mate for her husband. 

All efforts to locate Franklin's first printing office on Market street 
have resulted fruitlessly. Some years ago Charles Henry Hart made a 
careful search, even consulting deeds and other documents, but he came 
no nearer than others who had preceded him. The indications are 
from his phrase, "near the market," that his shop was between Second 
and Third, and nearer the latter than the former. This was in 1728. 
The first book issued by Franklin and his partner Meredith, as has 
already been related, bore the imprint of Keiiher, for the young printers 
had only completed work begun by their fonner master. The first 
volume to bear their imprint was published in 1729. This was an edi- 
tion of the Psalms of David, " imitated in the language of the New Testa- 
ment and applied to Christian worship, by I. Watts." This little book 
was "Printed by B. F. and H. M. for Thomas Godfrey, and sold at his 
shop." 

Thomas Godfrey, who was by trade a glazier, was reputed among 
early Philadelphians as a great mathematician. He invented a qua- 
drant, later known as Hadley's, and was father of the younger Thomas 
Godfrey, who achieved a reputation for his youthful poetry. In his 
"Autobiography," Franklin relates that he got Godfrey to come and 
keep house, or, rather, that he had Godfrey occupied the dwelling over 
the shop and he boarded with Mrs. Godfrey. Franklin did not get on 
well with Mrs. Godfrey, whom he accused of trying to make a match 
between him and a relative of hers. As soon as he could do so he rid 
himself of the Godfreys and then, in 1730, he married Miss Deborah 
Bead. 

When he married he brought Mrs. Read, his mother-in-law, to live 
with him. She was then ' ' The Widow Eead, ' ' as her advertisement of 
her ointment and salve in her son-in-law's paper, The Pennsylvania 
Gazette notes. Her advertisement mentions further that she has "re- 
moved from the upper end of High street to the New Printing Office 
near the Market, and continues to make and sell her well-known oint- 
ment," etc. 

From this statement it would appear that Franklin continued to 
call his shop "the new printing office," and that the word new had more 
than a temporary meaning. If this be the case, then Franklin continued 
to print in the same shop during his career, and if this surmise be 
correct the effort to locate the New Printing Office seems hopeless. It 
is known where the shop of his successors. Hall & Sellers, was located, 
and as this was below Second, and therefore opposite the market stalls 
of the Jersey Market, the designation "Near the market" becomes in- 
comprehensible. 



Its Merchants and Its Stoby 53 

In. 1764, having been appointed agent for the Province by the As- 
sembly, in spite of strong protests, for Franklin desired to overthrow 
the whole propi'ietary system and make Pennsylvania a royal province, 
he sailed for England. He had just built his house in a court on the 
south side of Market street, between Third and Fourth, which was 
known as Franklin's court. It appears that the house was finished and 
furnished after Franklin left the city, and consequently we have an ex- 
cellent idea of its furnishings in a letter written to him by Mrs. Franklin 
in 1765. 

She describes the first-floor furniture as consisting of a handsome 
sideboard, with chairs to match it, the latter being upholstered with 
horsehair. She mentions a second-hand carpet which she bought "cheap 
for its goodness, and nearly new;" a Scotch carpet for the parlor that 
"has had much fault found with it," and desires her husband to pur- 
chase a Turkey carpet "if he meets with one." In the Blue Room was 
a harmonica and a harpsicord. In the "room which you call yours" 
she tells him there had been placed a desk, "the harmonica made like 
a desk, a large chest with all the writings, the boxes of glasses for music 
and for the electricity, and all your clothes." 

Franklin's court now opens between 316 and 318 Market street. 
At the time Franklin went there to live it was only a court, entered 
through a narrow passage and widening in the back. It extended nearly 
to the middle of the block toward Chestnut street, and his house was 
erected across the present South Orianna street, as the avenue is now 
named. There were no other houses in the court, but in front of his 
house there was a large garden in which there is said to have been a 
mulberry tree. When he was in the city, Franklin dwelt there and it 
continued to be his home until his death in April, 1790. His funeral 
took place fi*om Franklin's court. His wife had died just before the 
opening of the Revolution and he spent his closing years with his 
daughter, Mrs. Richard Bache, and his son-in-law, who lived with him. 

Franklin was elected President of Pennsylvania in 1785, and it 
was about this time that he had his house in Franklin's court enlarged. 
He put up a wing to his dwelling that was three stories in height, the 
first floor of which contained a large apartment which he intended for 
meetings of the American Philosophical Society, of which he was one 
of the founders and president. In the second story he had his libraiy, 
and the third floor was laid out in bedrooms. 

"None of the woodwork of one room communicates with the woodwork 
of any other room," wrote Franklin, proud of the Improvements he had in- 
augurated in the construction, "and even the steps of the stairs are plastered 
close to the boards, besides the plastering on the laths under the joists. There 
are also trap-doors to go out upon the roof, so that one may go out and wet 
the shingles in case of a neighlioring tire. But indeed, I think the stair- 
cases should be stone and the floors tiled, as in Paris, and the roofs either tiled 
or slated." 



54 Market Street, Philadelphia 

All the European celebrities who came to Philadelphia during the 
last half a dozen years of the philosopher's life managed to make at 
least one visit to the home of the sage of Franklin's court. In the 
summer of 1788 the unfortunate Brissot De Warville saw him there, 
and wrote a most enthusiastic letter to a friend in Paris. 

"I have just beeu to see hiui," he wrote, "and enjoj- his conversation, in 
the midst of his books, which he still calls his best friends. The pain of his 
cruel inflruiit}' changes not the serenity of his countenance nor the calmness 
of his conversation. Franlslin, surrounded by his family, appears to be one 
of those patriarchs whom he has so well described and whose language he 
has coiiied with such simple elegance. I have found in America a great num- 
ber of enlightened politicians and virtuous men, but I find noue who appear 
to possess, in so high a degree as Franltlin, the characteristics of a real 
philosopher." 

One sentence in Brissot de War\alle's letter seems to hint at the 
probable location of his father-in-law's house in 1723. 

"He lives." writes the French traveler, "with his family in a house which 
he has built on the spot where he first lauded, sixty years before, and where 
he found himself wandering without a home and without acqiuiintanee. In 
this house he has established a printing press and a type fouudi'y." 

After Franklin's death his house, according to the directorj" for 
1795, was occupied by the Portuguese Ambassador, M. La Cheva Friere. 
In 1801 William Duane, who had married Mrs. Benjamin Franklin 
Bache, after the death of her husband, dwelt there, and is designated 
in the directory as printer and proprietor of the Aurora. At this time 
it appears that at least a part of the house was occupied by Mrs. H. 
Capron for her boarding school. By 1808 Mrs. Capron had removed 
her "Ladies' Academy" to 64 Sprace street, and William Duane was 
at 106 High street, at the southeast corner of Franklin's court, in which 
his printing office was located. 

The Aurora office was at 98 High street in 1810, and in 1813 the 
old place at the corner of the court, 106, was occupied by Duane 's son, 
William J. Duane, as a stationer's shop. In 1814 we find the Aurora 
is published by James Wilson, the grandfather of President Wilson, 
and the office is at 98 High street, while the publisher is li^^ng at 15 
Franklin's court. William Duane, who became adjutant general of the 
United States Anny for this district, had his office with the Aurora 
at 98. 

The map of 1811 does not indicate that Franklin's court was opened 
through to Chestnut street at that time, but it was opened within a 
few years, when the street became known as Franklin place. About 
the middle of the last century the street had its name changed to Hud- 
son's alley, the name that had been given to Whalebone alley, south of 
Chestnut street. 

About 1840, according to Hazard, there was a tavern in Franklin 
place on the west side of the street which had a striking signboard. It 




5 £ 







Its Merchants and Its Story 55 

was entitled "Going to Law" on one side of the oval board, and "Com- 
ing from Law," on the opposite side. It represented a man on a hand- 
some horse going to law, and a very much dejected, shabby man on a 
worse-jaded steed coming from law. A few years ago, when there was 
a general rearrangement of small streets and alleys, and a general 
change in their" names, Hudson alley received its present designation. 
South Orianna street. 

Richard Bache, who married Franklin's only daughter, Sarah, in 
1767, was a native of Yorkshire, England, where he was born in 1737. 
He soon attracted the interest of Franklin, and the latter, when he had 
the opportunity, made him his deputy postmaster of Philadelphia in 
1775. The following year he was appointed Postmaster General by the 
Continental Congress, and occupied that office until 1782. The Baches 
lived with Franklin in Franklin's court, and there their children were 
born. Bache was so ardent a patriot during the Revolution and during 
its prelude that he was compelled to fly from the city when the British 
arrived, and went to live in retirement an Dunck's Ferry, opiX)site 
Beverly, N. J. 

Bache 's son, Benjamin Franklin Bache, was born in Franklin's 
court in 1769. He had the advantage of accompanying his grandfather 
to Europe when Franklin was sent to the Court of France. While in 
France he gained a knowledge of the printing trade in the shop of 
Didot, and upon his return with his grandfather, in 1785, completed his 
studies in the College of Philadelphia. 

On October 1, 1790, the young man printed the first number of the 
General Advertiser, which, as soon as the French Revolution revealed 
its force, became thorouglily imbued with the right of the French cause. 
The paper in 1794 had its name changed to The Aurora and General 
Advertiser, and it began a series of biting attacks on the Federal 
Government and on Washing-ton himself. 

The Aurora began its carefully planned attacks on Washington 
about the time of the Jay Treaty. Mathew Carey in his autobiography 
gives a little light upon this plan which resulted in the Aurora losing 
much of its support both from subscribers and from advertisers. Ac- 
cording to Carey there was in 1796 an association here whose leaders 
were Dr. Leib, later postmaster of Philadelphia; Dr. Reynolds, John 
Beckly, William Duane, J. Clay and Benjamin Franklin Bache. 

"As the name and character of General Washington," comments Carey, 
"were employed as a species of argument in favor of the treaty, it was de- 
bated among the leaders for a considerable time, whether the validity of this 
argument, that is, the character and merits of General Washington, should 
be canvassed. At length, in an evil hour, it was resolved to assail General 
Washington in tlie Aurora, and In pamphlets, of which a number appeared, 
some of them coarse and vulgar. 

"Among the rest, the spurious letters of Washington, during the Revo- 
lutionary War, and the attacks on the General in an old pamphlet, wherein 



56 Makket Street, Philadelphia 

he is charged with the murder of a Frenchman bearing a flag of truce dur- 
ing the war of 1756. A Pole of the name of Treziulney. who acted as book- 
keeper for Mr. Duane, wrote a pamphlet, the object of which was to prove 
the utter incapacity of General Washington as displayed during the Kevolu- 
tion." 

At this time Bache bad as his editor AVilliam Duane, who had been 
a successful journalist in India, where he was kidnapped by the Gov- 
ernment and transported to England without any reason being given 
him, but which he knew was the reply to his arraignment of the Indian 
Government. Duane i^robably was one of the first of those lively writers 
who are regarded as "yellow journalists," and he spared no one where 
he believed wrong had been done. 

He was a forceful writer, and while he edited the Aurora there was 
constant warfare between it and the papers published by Fenno and 
Cobbett, both of which upheld the administration, while Bache 's paper 
was democratic, siding with Jefferson and the "French faction." 

Young Bache died in 1798, a victim of yellow fever, leaving a widow, 
whose maiden name was Margaret Hartman Markoe, and who belonged 
to a Danish family from Santa Cruz. Mrs. Bache, after the death of 
her husband, continued the publication of his newspaper under the 
direction of Duane, who had become a power in Democratic politics here, 
and in 1801 employer and employe were married. After that time the 
paper was generally alluded to as Duane 's Aurora, and, indeed, he made 
it what it was._ 

Duane had as sub-editor his son by a former marriage, William J. 
Duane, who married the second daughter of Richard and Sarah Bache. 
The younger Duane, as his daughter, the late j\Irs. E. D. Gillespie, has 
related in her "Book of Remembrance," did not enjoy journalistic work 
and he soon retired from that profession to become known later as a 
leading lawyer in this city. He also became Secretary of the Treasury 
under President Jackson, and drafted the famous will of Stephen 
Girard. 

In a sense, the Aurora may be said to have incited the country to 
declare war against Great Britain in 1812. Scarcely an issue of Duane 's 
sheet during the days of heated controversy i mm ediately preceding 
hostilities appeared without the figaires "6257" appearing in large type 
on its editorial page. These figures, now rather cabalistic, were imme- 
diately recognized in that day as meaning the number of American 
seamen who had been impressed from American ships by British frig- 
ates and privateers. 

With these figures at its editorial masthead day after day, the 
Aurora thundered for a declaration of war against Great Britain. Of 
course, Philadelphians who were in possession of Duane 's historj", and 
knew of the rough treatment he had received at the hands of the Vice- 
regal Government in India when his paper was suppressed in Calcutta, 







■i ^ 




x; = 3J 




ir, ii;anki.i.\ i-i.aci;. m>\v r> 



-(Uril (ilMA.WA Sl'UKKT 



FiMiii INK! Id 1M."i .liinu's Wilson. ^'vaiKHnilii-r nl' I'rcsi- 
lU'Ul Wiiiiili'dW Wilson, lived lifiv ( lisiht-colnri'd house), 
while he w;is Uie noiniiiMl imlilishei- of r>\i:uie"s Aiiinid. Al 
that time the old l"i:iiil<liii coiift had .1u.st lieeii niiide it 
thofoui:lif;ire to Cliestiuit street. I.nter it was named Iltid- 
son sli-eel. and in IMMl feceived its invsenl naun'. 



Its Merchants and Its Stoey 57 

and he was kidnapped and taken to England without trial, understood 
that a great deal of this thunder was the desire of the writer for ven- 
geance on the government that had despoiled him. It was a veiy natural 
attitude for Duane to take, and finally, after the Aurora had demanded 
war for months. Congress, refusing to listen to the advocates of "a 
shameful peace," declared for war. 

Duane was delighted, and within a short time he was appointed 
Adjutant General of the Army for the Eastern District, with the rank 
of Colonel, and wrote or compiled several useful books dealing with 
army regulations, drills, and on the art of warfare generally. He also 
soon foimd that his official duties precluded his active conduct of his 
newspaper, and it was then that the chance for his young jjrinter, James 
AVilson, came. 

The issue of the Aurora for May 4, 1813, contained the inscription 
under its title, "Printed (Daily) by James Wilson, at 98 Market street." 
Wilson soon removed from Tenth and Spruce, where he lived, to 15 
Franklin court, and dwelt there with his wife and family during the 
time he was in control as publisher of the paper. 

This James Wilson was to become the grandfather of President 
Woodrow Wilson. At the time he was printing the Aurora he had 
been in this country but five years, having landed here from Ireland in 
the fall of the year 1808. The first thing he seems to have done after 
he landed was to marry Miss Anne Adams, who, like himself, was a 
native of Ireland and who came to Philadelphia on the same shii? that 
brought him. Wilson was twenty-one years of age at the time, but had 
ser\'ed his apprenticeship as a printer in Ireland and was regarded as 
a good workman. He was immediately employed by Duane, who had 
himself lived for years in the Green Isle, and there his son, William J. 
Duane, had been born. Wilson's name appeared at the head of the 
paper for little more than a year. Then Duane 's duties as Adjutant 
General appear to have permitted him to resume, for the peace was 
signed in December, 181-t, and became known here toward the end of 
January, 1815. 

Wilson then removed to Steubenville, Ohio, with his wife and in- 
creasing family. Three of his children were born during his residence 
in this city, and one of them, his second son, Kobert, was bom in the 
house in Franklin's court, on September 10, 181.3, the day of Perry's 
victory on Lake Erie. 

William Duane continued to publish the Aurora until 1822, when, 
its power having waned, he sold the property to Eiehard Perm Smith, 
who two years later combined it with the Franklin Gazette. After he 
withdrew from the Aurora Duane made a visit to South America, which 
was just throwing off Spanish authority, and was somewhat heated by 
revolutions for independence. In 1829 Duane was appointed Prothono- 



58 Makket Street, Philadelphia 

tary of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, which office he held until 
his death in 1835. 

The elder Duane was a powerful leader writer. Although he lacked 
the withering pen of Cobbett, he wrote with conviction and without re- 
straint. His were telling leaders and, of course, as he was a strong party 
man, he always wrote in the interest of his party, which at first was 
termed Republican, and later Democratic. He was a fine figure in 
Philadelphia journalism, and his paper in its best days was quoted, 
and often his own fiery attacks were answered by equally burning words 
by the opposition press. It was in this school that James Wilson learned 
the editorial side of newspaper making as well as the practical mechan- 
ical part of it, and he in turn when he began the publication of news- 
papers in Ohio and in Pittsburgh brought to his editorial writing much 
of the same kind of forceful language that has distinguished Duane 's 
work in the Aurora. 

For a time Duane occupied the western corner of Franklin's court, 
and this building, numbered 108 in 1810, was on the site of the present 
318. In that year John Binns, the founder of the Democratic Press, and 
a politician of some importance in his time, moved into the building on 
the other side of the court, now 316, and in his recollections has left a 
brief notice of his occupancy. 

"In the rear of this house." he notes, "was a large office, which had been 
occupied as a dwelling by the late Dr. Franklin. I rented the store on 
Market street. This house and oftlce liad. ttetore I moved into it, been oc- 
cupied b.v Colonel Duane. It was in that house he lived and kept a liook- 
store, and had the printing office of the Aurora in the large back building. 

"I have no distinct recollection of the rent I paid for those premises, 
but I know they were all offered to be sold to me for $18,000. Since that time 
that property has been worth more than five times that sum. From these 
premises, in 181.5, I removed to the house and office. No, 70 Chestnut street, 
between Second and Third. I have no hesitancy in saying that there is now 
[1854] more business done in tliat square than, in 1.815, there was done in 
all Chestnut street, from the Delaware to the Schuylkill, From the time 
we came to Philadeljihia until some time after we removed to Market street. 
we kept a cow, and had her milked morning and evening. While in Market 
street our cow was stolen, and we "ne'er saw her more.' " 

As some remarkable characters either lived or had their places of 
business in the square on ^Market street between Third and Fourth 
streets, we must linger a little before proceeding westwai'd. From 
what has already been related in previous articles, it must be evident 
that Market street in the early days was the centre of the publishing 
trade, whether of books, newspapers or magazines, and in the square 
under consideration there were other printers beyond Franklin and his 
descendants engaged in the trade. William Goddard, who printed the 
Pennsylvania Chronicle, was one of these; Francis Bailey, who among 
other books printed the first "City Directory," in 1785, was another. 
Mathew Carey and James Humj)hreys were others engaged in the print- 
ing or publishing business at one time or other in this square. 




WILLIAM GODDARL> 
Printer and imWisher of the 

I'tiiiixiilnniiii Clirmiiclc 



Its Merchants and Its Story 59 

There also have been several inns or taverns on Market street be- 
tween Third and Fourth streets, although only one of them has been 
especially noted. In 1767 the Indian Queen tavei'n stood at the south- 
east corner of Fourth and Market streets. At that time the inn was 
kept by John Nicholson, who may have been related to the later and far 
more celebi'ated John Nicholson, who for a few years astonished the 
whole country by his daring real estate speculations, by which he man- 
aged at one time to have title to nearly one-seventh of the land in 
Pennsylvania. 

The Indian Queen, like many another old inn, served as a guidepost 
to those who sought other buildings of their time, and having estab- 
lished its definite location we are better able to indicate where some 
more important structures were siuated in 1767. For instance, in the 
pages of the Pennsylvania Chronicle we learn that John Wister's house 
was "nearly opposite the postoffice and opposite John Gibson's." 
Thomas Foxcroft was the postmaster and had the postoffice in his shop. 

John Gibson 's dry goods store, we learn from the same source, was 
"two doors from the Indian Queen." This gives us the location of 
Goddard's printing office and the place of publication of the Pennsyl- 
vania Chronicle, for the imprint on the paper explains that it is printed 
"by William Goddard at the new printing office in Market street near 
the postoffice," and "opposite John Wister's." Thus we get the im- 
pression that as the Indian Queen was at the corner of Fourth, two 
doors east of it was John Gibson's, which, being opposite to John 
Wister's, must have been next to Goddard's printing office, and leaves 
us to infer that the post-office was still further eastward in the block. 
Foxcroft continued as postmaster for some years, for he is known to 
have held that office as late as 1771. It is possible, although the state- 
ment is pure speculation, that Goddard's printing office was subse- 
quently occupied by Francis Bailey. The latter occupied a house on 
the site of the jiresent 326. 

Goddard, who had been a more or less successful printer in Provi- 
dence, Rhode Island, came to this city in 1766 and entered into partner- 
ship with Joseph Galloway, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, and 
with Thomas AVharton, a merchant. Both of Goddard's partners were 
Quakers, men of wealth and of great influence in the Province, but they 
did not desire to be known as the publishers of a newspaper in which 
they wanted their political beliefs paraded and their political enemies 
severely handled. 

As a result of a secret partnership and agreement, which Goddard 
subsequently revealed in his frank autobiography, the first number of 
the Pennsylvania Chronicle was issued bearing the date Monday, Jan- 
uary 26, 1767. Goddard's Pennsylvania Chronicle will always I'emain 
a historic publication, because it was in its pages that John Dickinson ^s 



60 Market Street, Phil.\delphia 

"Letters of a Pennsylvania Farmer," were printed in the winter of 
1767-1768. These letters, which in a measure gave an idea of what the 
mother countrj^ might expect were she to persist in her strong measures 
against the Americans, caused the partners of Goddard much annoy- 
ance. They reasoned with the printer and finally, after Goddard con- 
tinued his publication for several years, the partnership was dissolved. 
Galloway and Wharton did not like the American note that managed 
to find way into Goddard's weekly, for during the Revolution Galloway 
not only remained a loyalist, but went to England, where he resided 
until his death in 1803. 

Francis Bailey, who may have occupied the shop formerly used by 
Goddard, but certainly was in a shop on Market street on the site of 
the present 326, where his sign was "The Yo rick's Head," came to 
this city about 1778. He had learned his trade as printer in the shop 
of Peter Miller at Ephrata, Pennsylvania, and in 1771 he and Stewart 
Herbert formed a partnership and opened a printing office in Lancaster. 
It is said that the types he used were manufactured in Gennantown, but 
Bailey was so good a mechanician that he could manufacture type him- 
self, and subsequent to his removal to Philadelphia did make some of 
his own types. 

The fact that Bailey bought part of his pi'inting materials from 
Goddard when he came to this city is another reason for believing that 
it was quite probable that the newcomer took the place of the printer 
who left town several years before. Wliile this fact might seem to be 
of little importance of itself, it is of great significance in determining 
the location of other places in the immediate vicinity of Fourth and 
Market streets in 1767. 

Bailey, in 1779, published the United States Magazine, and had 
Hugh H. Brackenridge for editor. Brackenridge was a most eccentric 
genius, and as the author of that remarkable romance, "Modern 
Chivalry," the first important satire on American society as it was 
during the first decade of the Federal Government, he has a permanent 
place in any history of American literature. Brackenridge afterward 
went to Pittsburgh. He was a Justice of the Supreme Court of Penn- 
sylvania and also was editor of a Pittsburgh paper during the early 
years of the last century. 

Bailey's magazine did not exist long, but its owner succeeded in 
maintaining it for a whole year, which was regarded as a feat, in view 
of the failure of Aitken's magazine a few years before. In 1781 he 
began the publication of the Freeman's Journal, a weekly he continued 
for about a year, when he sold it to Joseph Scott. 

About 1795 Bailey took his son Robert into partnership, and the 
firm name became Francis and Robert Bailey. The elder Bailey died 
about 1802, and the business was afterwards carried on by his son, 



Its Mekchants and Its Story 61 

who moved to Crown street. On the death of Robert Bailey, in 1808, 
his widow, Mrs. Lydia R. Bailey, took charge. Mrs. Bailey became one 
of the first woman printers in this city, and she had the distinction of 
being chosen City Printer by Councils. She printed the "Census Di- 
rectory for 1811," and for many years her imprint was found on ordi- 
nances, committee reports and other city printing. She retired in 1861 
and died February 21, 1869, at the age of ninety-one years. In 1809 she 
printed "Freneau's Poems," in two volmnes, with frontispieces by. Eck- 
stein, one of the best editions of this Revolutionary poet that appeared. 
Three of the apprentices of Mrs. Bailey became successful printers 
in this city. These were Robert P. King, Alexander Baird, of the finn 
of King & Baird, and John Fagan, a stereotyjier. Mrs. Bailey at the 
time of her death lived at 26 North Fifth street, where she had had her 
printing office for many years. She left money for an endowment fund 
for the Third Presbyterian Church, and it has since been considerably 
increased. She lies buried in the Bailey family lot in yard of the Third 
Presbyterian Church, Fourth and Pine streets. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THIRD STREET TO FOURTH MATHEW CAREY JUDGE INGERSOLL 

AND OTHER RESIDENTS. 

The historic interest of Market street between Third and Fourth 
was by no means exhausted in the preceding chapter. Franklin, of 
course, looms up as the greatest figure, and as the most historic per- 
sonage who ever dwelt within these bounds; but there were others, 
some of them whose importance was not limited to the figure they pre- 
sented to their neighbors. Mathew Carey, with whom we spent a few 
minutes in an earlier chapter, had his shop in this square for many 
years, and the business he founded in 1785 exists to the present day, 
while several of his descendants have made their fame known to other 
parts of the country, and one of them is known even to historical stu- 
dents in many lands. 

Probably autobiography is one of the most entertaining forms of 
literature when the writer is, as usually he is, frank and confiding. The 
greatest autobiographies are of this character, notably those of Frank- 
lin and the late Governor Penny|:»aeker. While Mathew Carey wrote 
his autobiography toward the end of his career, the only objection to 
it is that he did not continue it beyond his early life in Ireland and 
his first years in this country. Although it remains a fragment, it is 
most instructive, and his observations upon men and events, while not 
told with the artlessness assumed by Franklin, nevertheless are evi- 
dently honest descriptions of impressions made upon their author. 

Carey, together with several others, among them W. Spotswood, 
T. Siddons and J. Trenchard began the publication of the Columbian 
Magazine in 1786, one of the most ambitious attempts at magazine mak- 
ing this country had witnessed up to that time. It was a close copy of 
the Gentleman's Magazine, of London, and was illustrated with en- 
graved plates. It ran through nine volumes, ceasing in 1792, although 
Carey had withdrawn from the enterprise after the third number had 
come from the press. There were five jmrtners, and Carey wisely de- 
cided that the profits of the enterprise were far too small to go around 
among so many. 

But immediately Carey began to organize a magazine of his own. 
This was called the American Museum, and its first number was issued 
in January, 1787. It ran a course almost parallel to that of the 
Columbian, for it, too, expired in 1792. The cause of its death was that 

62 



Its Merchants and Its Story 63 

it provided too much material for the subscription price. It contained 
a few original articles and carried a nice selection of essays, articles 
on economy and history and current poetry, much of it clipped from 
other sources. The volumes of the American Museum are of consider- 
able value to historians of the country's literature, for it was a virtual 
mirror of the best that appeared in print from contemporary books, 
magazines and newspapers. It also gave a history of the times in its 
reports of proceedings of Congress and the inclusion of many state 
papers. 

In his "Autobiography" Mathew Carey explains that not only was 
the subscription rate of $2.40 too low for the amount of paper he gave, 
but that his subscribers in many instances were remotely located from 
Philadelphia and he could not collect even this small subscription rate 
without paying about 30 per cent, for collection. The work was highly 
appreciated bj^ men of prominence in the country. General Washington 
gave the magazine his personal endorsement over his own signature, 
and every volume of the magazine was dedicated, just as books for- 
merly were, to some celebrity. One of them was dedicated to Governor 
MiiBin, another to John Dickinson, etc. In 1798 Carey published an- 
other volume of his Museum. This was an annual register, and he 
intended to continue it yearly, but it failed of the necessary success, 
and the 1798 volume, now the scarcest of all, was the last. 

For a while Carey was in partnership with Stewart and another 
person on Front street, and the earlier volumes of the American 
Museum bear the imprint of Carey, Stewart & Co. The same imprint 
appears on the quarto Bible, of the Douay version, which he began to 
print in 1789. This not only was the first quarto Bible printed in Eng- 
lish in this country, but was the first edition of the so-called Catholic 
Bible to come from an American press. This venture was fairly suc- 
cessfu], and in 1802 Carey, then on Market street, at 118, the site of 
the present 328, published a quarto of the King James' version of the 
Bible, also the first quarto of that version to be printed in the United 
States. 

Carey announced the terms of his Catholic Bible on the back cover 
of his American Museum. From this advertisement on the cover 
of the number for December, 1789, it is learned that it was is- 
sued in forty-eight weekly numbers, the whole work completed in 
984 pages. Number 2 was announced as ready on December 13th, and 
the price of each part was one-eighth of a dollar, or for the whole work 
$6 to subscribers, and to non-subscribers, $7. Carey announced that a 
number would be ready every Saturday morning at the publisher's 
store, and that subscribers were "to pay for each on delivery." Those 
who subscribed for the complete work were to pay $3 on subscribing 
and $3 when the complete work was delivered to them. 



64 Market Street, Philadelphia 

That Carey alone was able to print these Bibles was a feat that 
will be better understood when it is learned that the Aitken edition of 
the King James version was only attempted after several booksellers 
were interested in the venture. That was in 1782, and the enterprise 
had the endorsement of the Congress. But Carey understood the value 
of having on hand both the Catholic and the authorized versions of the 
Scriptures, and for years afterward he supjilied the trade of the entire 
country. Both versions went into several editions, and owing to the 
necessities of the times, Carey was comi^elled to keep the pages in type 
to save composition. Not only was he compelled to keep locked up in 
chases thousands of pounds of metal tji^es, but this idle type repre- 
sented investment of capital, running into thousands of dollars. 

No such enterprise on the part of a printer ever before had been 
known in this country. Carey, in 1804, had an idea that he would have 
the pages of the Bible stereotyped, having heard of the invention of 
stereotyijing in Didot's shop in Paris. He entered into correspondence 
on the subject, but found the person who wanted to introduce the method 
desired far more money than the i^roject would be worth, so the sub- 
ject was dropped and it was not until 1844 that the original pages of 
ijTpe for the quarto Bibles were broken up. This was done by the 
Careys in order to get some brevier tyj^e from the notes, for use in a 
cheap edition of Lover's "Rory o'More." Therefore, for more than 
fifty years the Careys had not only one Bible, but two of them in 
standing type. Carey reprinted the Waverley novels from "early 
sheets" contracted for with Scott's publishers. 

In his "Autobiography," Mathew Carey also dwells for a few 
pai'agraphs on his domestic affairs. He relates how he had become a 
little bit interested in a young woman, whose father, a commodore, 
assumed great airs, and that when he approached the father and asked 
for his daughter's hand, the father would not think of it because Carey's 
prospects did not appear to be as bright as he insisted was necessary. 
The autobiographer relates that unlike many another swain, he did not 
depart dejected or despairing, but by the following day seemed to think 
he had just escaped a bad bargain. 

The humor of the situation appeared later, when Carey, having 
received some money, had set himself up in business and had begun the 
publication of a newspaper. Then the young woman visited him with 
her aunt to renew the acquaintance, for they saw he was regarded as 
a person of some importance. But he treated them so coldly that they 
never returned. A few years later, or in 1790, Carey married a young 
woman whom he describes as poor as himself. His wife, who was ten 
years younger than he, brought him little more than some ancient furni- 
ture that he estimates could not have been worth more than $100, and 
that he had just about as much. He was so short of money that he had 




.\IATIIEW CAItHV 
I'rinti'i'. cidiiiiiiiisl .-iiid puliliiist 



Its Merchants and Its Story 65 

to borrow on Saturday nights to pay his employes and had to ask credit 
in the stores and in the market. 

But the young publisher and his helpful wife, who had a strong 
fund of conunon sense, never complained. They lived in harmony, 
raised a family of nine children, and their thrift and industry was re- 
warded, for not only did Mathew Carey become a man of prominence 
in the community, but he became known as a ijublisher and bookseller 
and as a convincing writer on political economy all over the country. 
When he died, in 1839, he had been a man of wealth for a good many 
years, having retired from active business in 1824, when one of his sons 
succeeded hun in a newly formed firm. 

No account of Mathew Carey should neglect the heroic part the 
printer and publicist played during the yellow fever epidemic in Phila- 
del23liia in 1793, the greatest calamity that ever visited the city from the 
date of its foundation. The disease made its appearance in the last 
days of the summer, and within a few weeks had almost depopulated 
the city. Those who were not victims of the disorder which gained 
rapidly, had fled the town. Even physicians left, and had it not been 
for the heroism and strong hands of a small group of men here chaos 
would have reigned. 

Mayor Clarkson stayed at his post manfully and presided daily 
over the meetings of the Citizen's Committee of Safety. Mathew Carey 
was a member, and he never missed a meeting which was held in the 
Mayor's office at Fifth and Chestnut streets every day at noon. In 
addition to using every effort to assist in restoring order and confidence, 
Carey also printed a history of the epidemic, which ran through five 
editions within a few weeks, and it remains the best account we have 
of this period. 

Another member of this Committee of Safety played an even more 
heroic part, and as he in 1791 had his shop on Market street, between 
Third and Fourth, we may stop a moment to consider him. This was 
Peter Helm, a cedar cooper, whom Carey describes as a "plain Ger- 
man," who lived at 127 Market street, now 309. In 1793 he lived at 
30 North Front street where he was a neighbor of Stephen Girard. 

To these foreigners, Girard, who came from France, and from 
Helm, who was a German, the city may be said to have virtually owed 
its deliverance. The city hospital was in disorder, every patient who 
was taken there died, usually before twenty-four hours. There was 
urgent need for a capable superintendent, and Girard and Helm both 
volunteered. Girard, indeed, did the most menial and repulsive work 
at the hospital, and Helm attended to the general care and the outside 
work of the place. And both positions were places of gravest danger 
from the dread disease. Fortunately, neither succmnbed, and neither 
relinquished his position until all danger had disappeared. And it is 



66 Makket Stbeet, Philadelphia 

mainly through Carey's history of the epidemic that posterity has 
known of the heroism of these citizens. 

In a previous chapter mention was made of Colonel Thomas For- 
rest, who in 1791 lived on the north side of High street next to the east 
corner. This house in 1785 had been the home of Judge Jared IngersoU, 
who was Attorney General of Pennsylvania in 1791, and who at that 
time had moved to Chestnut street between Fifth and Sixth streets. 
IngersoU had come from New England, but his name is better known 
here than elsewhere, for he was the preceptor of Horace Binney, who 
has mentioned him as "the most efficient manager of an important jury 
trial among all of the able men who were then at the bar of Philadel- 
phia." He was the father of Congressman Charles J. IngersoU, who 
also became a prominent figure as a lawyer, orator and author in Phila- 
delphia. The same building was occupied, in 1801, by Jesse Sharpless 
as a dry goods store, the forerunner of establishments well known to 
Philadelphians of the last few generations. In 1801 the dry goods 
business had not yet established itself in Second street, but was seen 
at its best and most progressive side on High, or Market street. Later 
in the last century the dry goods business took possession of Second 
street, and it was not until after the Civil War that Eighth street be- 
came the shopping street. The last quarter century has seen change 
again and once more Market street is the shopping district. 

During the Revolution the Philadelphia Library, which had its col- 
lection in Carpenter's Hall, was not the public institution it since has 
become. In the early part of the year 1777 the librarian, Francis 
Daymon, lived "on the south side of Market street, four doors below 
Fourth." At that time the approved and only way to get out a book 
was to visit the librarian ' ' between the hours of 5 and 7 in the afternoon 
and leaving a signed note for such books as they respectively want." 
But tliere was an unusual reason for all this red tape. The notice which 
appeared in the Gazette, Packet and Evening Post, explains: "The 
lower part of the Library being at present used as an infirmary for 
sick soldiery, renders it inconvenient for the librarian to attend at 
the library room as usual." 

Francis Daymon 's house was on the site of the present 332 Market 
street, and the building, or the site, has historic significance for another 
reason, for it was here that in 1798 the first copies of "Hail, Columbia," 
were issued by Benjamin Carr in his Musical Repository. This edition, 
which bears a crude portrait of President Adams and is entitled simply 
"A Patriotic Song" was known principally by report until a copy was 
sold at Stan. V. Henkels' auction several years ago. Carr appears to 
have shared the premises with John Phile, who is set down in the 
directory for 1795 as "shopkeeper;" but as the music of "Hail, 
Columbia" is "The President's March," by Philip Phile, a musician 




KEX.JAMIX CAUIt 

First I'lililisliw- of ■'Hail ( 'oluiiiliia" 




i = 3; 






^ i.~ 



Its Merchants and Its Story 67 

who led the orchestra at the Southwark Theatre, it is a not unreason- 
able suggestion that these two men may have been related. Philip 
Phile was a victim of the yellow fever epidemic in 1793, and he was 
buried in the German Calvinist Cemetery, which was in the northwest 
corner of Franklin Square. 

Mathew Carey a few years after Carr and Phile left this place 
took the building then numbered 122, and remained there until he re- 
moved, about 1815, to Chestnut street. 

We are now at Fourth street, and there is an engraving by Birch 
of a historic event connected with this locality. This was the mock 
funeral of Washington in December, 1779. In Birch's view we do not 
obtain much more than a glimpse of the catafalque, followed by a 
riderless horse and a few of the MacPherson Blues, mai'ching up 
Fourth street to Zion Church, where the funeral oration was pronounced 
by General Richard Henry Lee. The view, however, gives an idea of 
the interior of the old market sheds, which in 1799 stopped at Fourth 
street. 

We should not leave this end of the old market without mentioning 
a famous eating stand which in the middle of the last centuiy was at 
this end of the market. This place was known as "The Red Curtain," 
from its flaming shade which concealed it from the street. It was one 
of the first popular market eating stands in the city, and from it the 
fame of more recent stands arose. In the 50 's there was published a 
little pamphlet about this "Red Curtain," but this now is quite scarce. 

At the northeast corner of Fourth and Market streets, in 1801, 
Laurence Seckel, a wine merchant, lived. His father, and subsequently 
himself, owned a large farm in "The Neck," which is known to fame 
for two reasons. First it contained a pear tree of unknown origin, 
which under cultivation produced the fruit long named in honor of its 
cultivator, the Seckel pear. Second, he sold his farm to Stephen Girard, 
who took the deepest interest in the place, made it a profitable venture, 
and finally willed it to the City of Philadelphia along with his other 
property, to be held in trust for the support of his college for orphan 
boys. 



CHAPTER IX 

FOURTH AND MARKET STREETS PUBLISHERS AND BOOKSELLERS A FEW OLD 

INNS REBECCA GRATZ DR. CASPAR WISTAR 

After the Revolution steps were taken by the city Government to 
obtain authority to extend the market sheds on Market street. We 
already have learned how the residents of Market street effectively 
fought the efforts to extend the sheds from Third to Fourth streets be- 
fore the Revolution, but in 1786 the Assembly gave the wardens of the 
city property the power to extend the market sheds and the act which 
gave the authority states that "custom and long usage have fixed High 
street as the most eligible and central place for the market-place to be 
continued." 

Acting under this law the city authorities in 1810 put up an ex- 
tension of the sheds from Fourth street to Sixth, and there was no 
opposition to the plan. 

At the southeast corner of Fourth and Market streets, as we men- 
tioned in a previous chapter, the Indian Queen tavern was an important 
house in the middle of the eighteenth century. About 1790 the Market 
street building of the inn appears to have been pulled down or remod- 
eled, but the stables and yard were standing until about the middle of 
the last century. About the same time the inn was rebuilt on Fourth 
street below market, and the yard and stables continued to be used. 

The only logical reason for this change that presents itself in the 
absence of any absolute facts on the subject is that the High or Market 
street front became too valuable as the thoroughfare became built up 
and the inn retired into the background. Both the Market street and 
the Fourth street structures have considerable historical interest, and 
for very different reasons. 

On the map of Philadelphia published in 1762 the Indian Queen 
and the stables back of it are plainly distinguished, although not named. 
Even at that time it appears to have been a rather popular hotel, but 
probably had not been open many years. Alexander Graydon, in 
liis memoirs, mentions the inn as a place where in the racing season 
there usually were a number of thoroughl)reds stabled, and the inn 
was the meeting place for their owners. He describes his favorite 
strolls as a boy in 1760 or 1761, and says that after peeping into Israel 
Pemberton's garden, which was on the site of the Girard National Bank, 
on South Third street, he then continued on his way to the inn yard 

68 









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r-i t e: tEt I |^L__ 

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lu. kkl Ilk LL 



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Its Merchants and Its Story 69 

of the Indian Queen. "Turning Chestnut street corner to the left," 
he wrote, "and passing a row of dingy two-story houses, I came to the 
whalebones, which gave name to the alley at the corner of which they 
stood. These never ceased to be occasionally an object of some curi- 
osity, and might be called my second stage, beyond which there was but 
one more general object of attention, and this was to get a peep at the 
race horses which in sporting seasons were kept in the Widow Nichols' 
stables, which from her house (the Indian Queen, at the comer of 
Market street) extended perhaps two-thirds or more of the way to 
Chestnut street." 

Although the early horse races were run straight out Race street, 
which received its name from this circumstance, at the time of which 
Graydon wrote, the races were held on a round track at Centre Square, 
the site of the present City Hall. Watson relates that in those days all 
admired racers were pacers, and that trotters were regai'ded as a base 
breed, and states that after the Eevolution no more races were held at 
Broad and Market streets. 

John Nicholson appears to have been the proprietor of the Indian 
Queen in 1767, and in 1791 we find a Widow Nichols, "innkeeper," on 
Market street, a few doors west of Fourth, on the south side, keeping 
the Conestoga Wagon. In 1785 the old Indian Queen was tenanted by 
Francis Lee, and from his place the New York stage set out each mora- 
ing at 4 o'clock. The two directories that were published in 1785 do not 
agree either upon the location of the Indian Queen or of the residence 
of its proprietor. Macpherson's assigns him to 283 High street, which 
would have brought it on the north side of the street and next to the 
northwest corner of Fourth. White's directory locates both Lee and 
the Indian Queen at the corner of Fourth and High streets, and this 
appears, from all that can be leai-ned, to be its location at that time. 

From Graydon 's description of the property and from its indica- 
tion on the map of 1762, it may be imagined that this was a very ex- 
tensive establishment for the time. About 1790 the old place at the 
corner seems to have been removed and a new building erected on Fourth 
street. The stables, as has been mentioned, were not removed until 
1851. 

From 1790 down to the middle of the last century there was a hotel 
on tliis site; indeed, the building at present numbered 27 to 31 South 
Fourth street bears many evidences of being the structure erected 
about 1790, although somewhat altered. But about this time there was 
another house beside the Indian Queen that has been confused with 
the latter. This was Francis' Hotel. That they bore some relation to 
each other is shown by the fact that Francis' house stood between the 
Indian Queen and the office of the New York stage. In 1791 the Indian 
Queen was tenanted by James Thompson, and his number was 15 South 



70 Maeket Stkeet, Philadelphia 

Fourth street. In 1793 Thompson was still proprietor of the inn, but 
at 13 John Francis had his boarding house, and in 1795, at 9, John Van- 
arsdalen, the clerk of the Baltimore and New York stage, had his office 
and Francis ' house bore the numbers 11 and 13, while the Indian Queen 
still figured at 15. 

After the Federal Government offices were removed from this city 
to Washington in 1800, Francis, finding the "President's House," on 
Market street near Sixth, was vacant, leased it and the following year 
opened it as Francis' Union Hotel. He remained there until 1804, and 
then he went back to Fourth street and occupied the premises 13 and 15 
as a hotel until 1807. In the interval when Francis was on Market 
street the Indian Queen was managed by James Coyles, and in the 20 's 
Thomas Heiskell was the proprietor. Aaron Clements had the house 
from 1828 to 1832, and during that period the First City Troop made 
it its headquarters, and when Clements removed to Second and Chest- 
nut streets the troop followed him. In 1834 the Indian Queen, still 
numbered 15, was managed by Bernard Duke; in 1842 David Miller 
had it, and in 1850 the proprietor was J. C. Maxwell. Later in the 50 's 
Horatio Wade's name was found on the tall sign board which contained 
a picture of an Indian princess, the handiwork of Woodside. In this 
first decade of the second half of the last century the inn seems to have 
been abandoned, and the stables in the rear were removed and the 
ground improved. 

It was Francis' house that was a favorite stopping place for mem- 
bers of Congress while that body sat in this city, and it was there that 
John Adams was stopping while Vice-President of the United States, 
and from its doors he left that morning in March, 1797, to be driven 
to the Congress Hall to take the oath as second President of the United 
States. In a little book containing the diary of Thomas Twining, a 
young Englishman who made a visit to this country in 1796, we are 
given a delightful picture of Francis' hotel and of its society in the 
year 1796. Twining describes Francis as a Frenchman, who has lost 
the politeness of his countrj-, for when he sought board and lodgings 
there he was informed by Francis, whom he said was an old man, that 
his house was "not a public tavern, but a private house for the reception 
of members of Congress." He also added that his house at the time 
was full. His wife, whom Twining pictures as a tall, young, handsome 
American woman, reminded her uncouth better half that there was a 
small spare room that the traveler might have until the following day 
when there would be a room next to that occupied by Vice-President 
Adams, empty. 

Twining was received, enjoyed the novel luxury of buckwheat cakes, 
whose fame had reached him even before he landed in Philadelphia, 
and was charmed with the official society he found in Francis' house. 




IXniAX QTKEX I10Ti:i. 
The secoinl liiiildini: nf IhiU naiiie, 1.". Smitli Fourlh street 




HlESKELLs HOTEL, 

Stfln Of tijr );n9i<in Ciucen, 

'Vo. 15 South Fourth Street, Philaddphia 



I /''-.^ /Z' X''^ a'i-f-/ '^^o 



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A OI'EST BII,L AT THi: IXDIAX nl EEX 




Miiui 'HANTS' i',riM)iX(;. m to is n<»i;'I'ii i'<h ktii stkiokt 



r.iiilt ill ISoT as the AVasliiii?rloii Hotel. iK'tauie iioti'd as 
I lie .Merchants' Hotel and was the scene of many iiolilical 
srntheriiifis. I'resideiit Van Bni'en was feted here and Franklin 
IMerce stopped here on his way to lie inans;nrated. 



Its Mekchants and Its Story 71 

As he is one of the few English travelers who visited the country when 
the nation was still in swaddling clothes, who found something pleasant 
to say of it and its people, and who was willing to make allowances 
for most things except the cruel stage coaches he had to ride in, his 
narrative is very pleasant reading. He describes Vice-President 
Adams at Francis ', being always seated at the head of the table, except 
in the mornings, when he had breakfast in his room. Mr. Adams was 
accompanied by a man servant, and the young traveler found the Vice- 
President an agreeable man. "Mr. Adams," he says, "took the chair 
always reserved for him at the head of the table, though himself supe- 
rior to all sense of superiority. He appeared to be about sixty years 
of age. In person he was rather stout and thick; in his manner some- 
what cold and reserved, as the citizens of Massachusetts, his native 
state, ai'e said generally to be. His presence caused a general feeling 
of respect, but the modesty of his demeanor and the tolerance of 
his opinions excluded all inconvenient restraint. He had the appear- 
ance rather of an English country gentleman who had seen littb of the 
world, than of a statesman who had seen so much of public life." 

After the inauguration of President Adams, Washington, the re- 
tiring chief executive, accompanied by Timothy Pickering, walked from 
Congress Hall down Chestnut street, with a crowd at their heels, and 
called at Francis' Hotel to pay his respects to the new President. 
Thomas Jefferson, while Vice-President, resided at Francis' house. 

As we have strolled a hundred feet or so down Fourth street to 
gossip a little about the old Indian Queen Hotel, we might now go a 
short distance up Fourth street above Market to spend a few min- 
utes with the history of another public house which in its time also was 
regarded as a hotel of importance. This was the Merchants' Hotel, 
40 to 48 North Fourth street, which structure still stands, although now 
it is an office building and known as the Merchants' Building. 

The Merchants ' Hotel, at first known as the Washington Hotel, was 
erected about 1837, and at that time was not only the finest house of its 
kind in this city, but was regarded as unequaled in the comitiy. It was 
then the last word in hotel luxuiy. It was furnished with soft carj^ets, 
stuffed furniture and heavy curtains, and was looked upon as a kind 
of palace hotel. As it was the largest house in the city, many banquets 
were given there. In 1839 President Van Buren, who was supposed 
to be "following in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessor," Andrew 
Jackson, whose protege he was, came to Philadelphia and was hand- 
somely received. A historic banquet was given in his honor at the 
Merchants' Hotel, as it then was named, and wliich at that time was 
managed by Sanderson, and almost from the beginning was a iDolitical 
headquarters. On his way to Washington to be inaugurated President, 
in March, 1853, Franklin Pierce stopped at the Merchants' Hotel. He 



72 Makket Stkeet, Philadelphia 

there met Judge James Campbell whom he had selected as his Post- 
master General, and was compelled to make a speech from the hotel 
balcony before an enthusiastic crowd of adherents would leave. 

It was from the Merchants' Hotel that President Buchanan's pres- 
idential campaign was engineered, and here Buchanan occasionally 
stopped while in the city. Afterward, early in his political career, it 
was the occasional home of Samuel J. Randall, Speaker of the House 
of Representatives, and his political headquarters. The house was sold 
to Thomas P. Twibill in 1881, and about twenty years ago was remod- 
eled into an office building. Horatio Wade, who at a later date was 
the proprietor of the Indian Queen, was the proprietor when the house 
was opened as the Washington Hotel in 1837. Caleb Cope, who was 
a silk merchant at 409 Market street at the time, was one of the pro- 
jectors of the hotel. 

At the southwest corner of Fourth and Market streets there stood 
until 1896, when the jjroperty was removed to widen Fourth street so 
that the iaqade of the new Bourse could be seen to advantage from 
Market street, a building in which John Wanamaker received his in- 
ception into the clothing business. The house at that time, when Mr. 
Wanamaker was about fourteen years of age, bore the sign of Lippin- 
cott, Taylor & Co. The firm operated three stores — one in Philadelphia, 
one in Pottsville and one in St. Clair, Pa. Barclay Lippincott man- 
aged the one in Philadelphia and Edward T. Taylor the two outside 
of the city. Edward T. Taylor, in later j^ears, was appointed Inspector- 
General of the United States Schuylkill Arsenal, and served in that 
position until retired by reason of old age. He died December 11, 1897, 
at the age of eighty-two years, in Blawenburg, Somerset County, N. J. 
He was buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia. Mr. Wana- 
maker did, indeed, put in a short time in a book store as a boy, at a 
weekly salary of $1.50. But in Lippincott, Taylor & Co's store he 
received his first training in a business in which he subsequently became 
famous. As a small boy he at times done some trifling work in his 
father's brickyard in the Neck. But when he was thirteen his father 
got the notion that he would like to try his luck in the Middle West, 
and he gathered together his family and took them all to his father's 
place, about forty miles from Fort Wajme. A short stay there convinced 
the elder Wanamaker that he would be better off back in Philadelphia, 
so, to the joy of tlie family, who did not enjoy the rough life in the more 
or less wild country, they returned the next year. 

Mr. Wanamaker 's father died in 1851, and Ms son then regularly 
went to work, at first in a book store for a short time and then with 
Barclay Lippincott. After stajnng there for a brief period he worked 
with the late Colonel Joseph M. Bennett at his ' ' Tower Hall. ' ' 

In 1785 "the Widow Wistar," as the directory of that year de- 







.\iai;ki:t stuekt. soctii side, west eku.m f(m j;tii. auoit inijs 



hi llii' ciinicr sliire. .Tulin \V;iii;niii)Ui'i' reocivcil his lirsi 
I iMiiiiiii; MS ;i cldtliin^' s;ilesiiinii. The huiUUnii was ivnioveil 
wluMi F()\iilh sireel was widened to set off tlie fai.ade of 
Ihe riomse P.uihlins. In the Imildinf; 41(i. many of ihe 
Eai'ly street railway mergers were arranged. 



Its Merchants and Its Stoey 73 

scribes the relict of the first Caspar Wistar, dwelt in the tenth house 
west of I'ourtb on the south side of Market street. She was the mother 
of Dr. Caspar Wistar. Her maiden name was Catharine Jansen, and 
she was born in 1703. She died in 1786 in the house on Market street. 

In the early days a branch of Dock creek crossed Market street at 
or just above Fourth street. Watson quotes several persons, descend- 
ants of first settlers, to the effect that there was a large pond at the 
intersection of these streets in the beginning of the city. Later there 
was an arch built across High or Market street to carry the water, and 
the street level in that vicinity at that time was somewhat lower than 
it is at the present time. One person quoted by Watson avers that in 
his young days, about the close of the seventeenth centuiy, he frequently 
shot wild ducks and wild geese, usually to be found gathered near the 
pond at Fourth and Market streets. This arm of Dock creek which 
crossed Market street extended considerably further northwest. When 
the tide was running up in the early days small fish were caught in the 
stream at Fourth and Market streets, and a pond just north of this 
intersection was a favorite skating place in the winter, even up to the 
first quarter of the eighteenth century. Until about 1725 this quarter 
of the city was not very well attended to by the City Fathers. The 
crossing at Fourth and Market streets usually was in a state of neglect. 
In wet weather venturesome pedestrians discovered that the water in 
Market street was waist deep ; the gutters or water courses, as they were 
called, were decayed and only those whose business compelled them to 
cross Fourth street going west undertook the hazardous step. 

It was in the inn which had for its sign. The Conestoga Wagon, on 
the site of the present 410 Market street, that Major-General Charles 
Lee, a Revolutionary officer, who was dismissed from the American 
Army for his conduct at the Battle of Monmouth, died in 1782. He was 
a broken and a ruined man, with suspicion of treason hovering over him, 
and in his last illness he was attended by Colonel Eleazar Oswald, who 
had served under him. The building which more recently stood on this 
site might be regarded as of local historical interest, for in one of the rear 
offices on the first floor were arranged those early street railway 
mergers, which led to the development of such transit system as we have 
in Philadelphia today. At the time these mergers were planned, between 
1876 and 1892, the building was owned and occupied by Sullivan & 
Brother, a hosiery concern. The two brothers, Jeremiah J. and James 
F. started in business at 112 and 114 North Fourth street, in 1866, and 
two years later joined the jobbing centre in Market street, at number 
236. In 1868 the building was occupied by gunsmiths, J. C. Grubb & 
Co., and the dissolution of the firm gave the Sullivans an opportunity 
to get on Market street. James Sullivan had learned the business on 
that thoroughfare in the house of Field Brothers, at 218. The senior 



74 Market Street, Philadelphia 

member of that firm was John Field, afterward Postmaster of Phila- 
delphia. After the Sullivans sold the building at 410 in 1892, they pur- 
chased the property at 629 from Biddle Cope, who was described in the 
deed as a Marquis, although he had taken the property as plain Biddle 
Cope. It appears that Mr. Cope for years lived in Italy; where, enter- 
ing the Catholic Church as a member, he was granted a patent of 
nobility from the Pope. 

Before we continue on our way out Market street we should take a 
glance at a romance in book publishing and bookselling which concerns 
the vicinity of Fourth and Market streets. 

In the book trade years ago the name of John Grigg was one of 
those best known throughout the United States. To the local book- 
sellers it was a name to conjure with. The lads who entered the book- 
stores as errand boys heard of the great success of Grigg, and his 
career was held out to them as an example of what attention, good 
judgment and thrift would do. Yet the name is now almost unknown 
to the average reader. The store in which Grigg began his career as 
a bookseller in this city had a long history before he came to Phila- 
delphia, and even was established before Grigg was born. At what then 
was number 147 Market street, the fourth building on the north side of 
the street below Fourth, was the finn of Jacob Johnson & Co. The 
company appears to have been Benjamin Johnson and a man named 
James. The Johnsons printed there before 1791, for we find the name 
in the directory for that year, but it does not appear in the directories 
for 1785. They printed books and did a general business to which they 
also added book selling, as, indeed, the majority of the printers in that 
day did. While the Johnsons did not do so large a trade as to make 
them distinguished they were well established and favorably known. 

They were succeeded early in the last century by Benjamin Warner, 
who continued in business there for many years. Warner was a pro- 
gressive bookseller, and did a large business in educational works. But 
the romance mentioned has little to do with the Johnsons, and only 
incidentally with Warner. About 1816 Warner took into his store John 
Grigg, who soon made the business even greater than it had been. He 
found there as fellow clerks several other young men who also became 
distinguished in Philadelphia. One of these was Judge John Bouvier, 
author of several legal works of knportance; Uriah Hunt, afterwards 
an eminent bookseller and publisher, and John B. Ellison. 

At that time John Grigg was a man twenty-four years of age. He 
was a native of Cornwall, England, where he was orphaned at an early 
age. His people ai>pear to have been farmers, and John received his 
first impressions of the world from the fields of Cornwall. He aban- 
doned farm life as soon as he could, and went to sea. That was the 
usual method of lads in those days, especially of English boys, who 




^ Ij 




Its Merchants and Its Story 75 

sought their fortune in the wider world. He made several voyages 
across the Atlantic; he had some experiences in the Bay of Biscay and 
in the West Indies, and about 1810 he gave up seafaring and went to 
Richmond, Virginia. 

There is not a great deal known of his Virginia experiences, but it 
is understood that he was given advantages for study during the thir- 
teen months he stayed there, and he made good use of the opportunity. 
He then migrated to Ohio, where he managed, by his brightness, steady 
habits and zeal to become a clerk in the Court of Common Pleas in 
Warren County. This office was no sinecure, for it is said that for 
weeks at a time he was compelled to write from fifteen to eighteen hours 
a day. This strain and hard work began to tell upon his constitution, 
and he was forced to seek a change. He found it in a newly established 
woolen mill in Kentucky, of which he was made superintendent. Once 
moi'e his "uncommon industry, activity and efficiency in business" won 
the confidence of his employer. But young Grigg was impatient for 
larger fields. He felt that he must find his place in a large city, so he 
came to Philadelphia in 1816. He came here with little means, but with 
an abundance of self-reliance and confidence. He was almost tempted 
to return to Kentucky, when fate threw him into the way of Benjamin 
Warner. 

When he entered Warner's shop Mr. Grigg knew nothing, or next 
to nothing, of the book business. Realizing this defect he did what 
probably no clerk in the shop ever did before — he set to work to mem- 
orize the name of every book for sale in the shop. In a short time he 
had mastered this important work, and with it, of course, the price of 
each book and the place where it could be found in stock. His avidity 
to learn and his ambition to succeed soon excited the jealousy of his 
fellow clerks. His employer discovered this, and, in order to allay the 
jealousy, he sent Mr. Grigg to Virginia to settle the affairs of a book- 
seller there, who had a connection with Warner's house. This business 
he performed satisfactorily, and when a few years later Warner felt 
that the end was near he attached a note to his will to the effect that he 
believed one or two young men in his employ might be charged with 
continuing his business after his death. He mentioned Mr. Grigg as 
"possessing a peculiar talent for the bookselling business," and added 
that he was "very industrious, and from three years' obsei-vation he 
had found nothing in his conduct to raise a doubt in his mind of his 
possessing correct principles." 

After Mr. Warner's death, his executors confided in young Grigg. 
The house had agencies through the South and West, and it was neces- 
sary to adjust the business with each of them, but Mr. Grigg set to work 
and managed the affairs successfully, so that he had wound up the busi- 
ness within a few years. He then found himself without occupation. He 



76 Mabket Street, Philadelphia 

sought a friend's advice, who told him to rely upon himself. The fol- 
lowing day he rented a store at 9 North Fourth street, and began busi- 
ness on his own account. 

There is no need to follow Grigg through the changes in the firm, 
or until it finally became known as the J. B. Lippincott Company, but 
it should be told that he caused a revolution in the book busines.s in 
this country. He was a far-seeing man of business, and it is said that 
he was accustomed to look ahead before going ahead. An instance of 
his judgment was shown in the fact that he weathered the panicky 
days of 1836 and 1837. He saw them coming and prepared for their 
arrival. He foresaw the dangers that threatened business in the issue 
between the United States and the Bank of the United States, and 
promptly changed his investments for real estate. His property lay 
not alone in Philadelphia, where he erected rows of houses, but in 
Mississippi and Illinois. He became identified with real estate and 
with the city's banking interests about the middle of the last century. 
He erected rows of what then were regarded as modern dwellings, and 
having retired from the book trade, became a private banker. Having 
amassed considerable wealth Mr. Grigg gave largely from his store 
in many forms of philanthropy, and his son, John Warner Grigg, who 
did not survive him many years, also left large bequests to charities. 
Mr. Grigg during his last years lived at 1022 Arch street. He died in 
1864, and his son died in 1869 at the age of fifty years. 

At the northwest corner of Fourth and Market streets in 1785 lived 
Michael Gratz, one of the forefathers of the present family of that 
name. Like the Kister brothers, earlier in the eighteenth century, the 
Gratz brothers, Barnard and Michael, came to this country from Ger- 
many and as merchants became both wealthy and powerful. 

Barnard, the elder of the brothers, both of whom were born in 
Langendorf, Upper Silesia, Germany, was the first to arrive. He came 
here in 1754, when he was only sixteen years of age. Michael, who 
was born in 1740, came out in 1759, after having traveled somewhat 
through Europe. Both of the brothers seem to have at first gone to 
Lancaster, where they traded with the Indians, and were in position to 
receive some large grants of public lands. However, both of the 
brothers were in Philadelphia in 1769 and in business together at 
Fourth and Market streets. Both of the brothers were identified with 
the movment among the Jews in Philadelphia, then few in number, that 
resulted in the establishment of the first Jewish synagogue in this city, 
perhaps in the country. Barnard was the president of the congregation 
which erected its first house of worship in Cherry street. Michael Gratz 
also was very prominent in the work and his name is found in the 
memorial inviting the President and the Executive Council of Penn- 
sylvania to attend the consecration of the synagogue in Cherry street, 



Its Merchants and Its Story 77 

and both Barnard and Michael Gratz signed the non-importation reso- 
lutions in 1765. 

But here we are more interested in Michael Gratz than his elder 
brother, for it was Michael who was the father of Rebecca Gratz, who 
in her early days was one of the beauties of Philadelphia, and until 
the end of her life was a woman of social importance in this city. It 
probably is the connection of Rebecca Gratz with Scott's novel "Ivan- 
hoe" that has caused her name to be best recalled to readers. There 
does not seem to be any doubt that the tradition that has been revealed 
over and over again is true. It is said that through her friend. Miss 
Hoffman, Washington Irving became acquainted with Rebecca Gratz, 
and that on one of his visits to Sir Walter Scott he described her 
beauty, her unusual mental attainments and her beautiful character 
to the novelist. Scott is said to have announced to Irving that he would 
introduce a Jewish character in his next novel, and when "Ivanhoe" 
appeared in 1819, it was found that there was a fine type of Jewish 
maiden among its characters and her name was Rebecca. It is said 
that Scott sent a copy of his book to Inking with a note asking : ' ' How 
do you like your Rebecca? Does the Rebecca I have pictured compare 
with the pattern given?" 

Rebecca Gratz was born while her father dwelt at Fourth and Mar- 
ket streets, in 1781. There was no directoiy between 1785 and 1791, 
and consequently it cannot be easily determined when Michael Gratz 
left Fourth and Market streets and with his brother Barnard, went to 
live at 107 (old number) Race street. But he is set down in 1791 as 
residing at that place. Michael Gratz, who died in 1811, left a son, 
Simon Gratz, who also was a prominent man of affairs in Philadelpliia. 
Simon Gratz was one of the founders of the Pennsylvania Academy of 
Fine Arts, and was identified with the intellectual side of the city's life 
as well as with its business affairs. 

You still may see a rather narrow alley running north from Mai'ket 
street west of Fourth, just where the present 415 stands. A signboard 
lets you know that it is Paradise alley, but that conveys little informa- 
tion to the seeker. The alley, unnamed, will be found on maps as far 
back as that of 1762, and it seems to have at one time been a side entrance 
to the Black Horse Inn that in 1767 was at the west corner of the alley 
and Market street. In 1767 the inn was kept by William Graham, and 
probal)ly he would have been unknown to history had it not been that 
he seems to have given shelter to the old printer, Samuel Dellap, when 
the latter was in a bad way, and was selling books at auction in the rear 
of the inn. Dellap died there of yellow fever in 1793. The inn stood 
there imtil about the beginning of the last century ; indeed, its signboard 
is shown in the picture by Birch illustrating the Washington funeral in 
1799. 



78 Mabket Street, Philadelphia 

The alley until about twenty years ago bore the name of Leithgow 
street. In 1785, and until the early years of the last eentuiy, John 
Knorr had his cooperage in the rear of the building on the west side of 
the alley, and the alley doubtless was the only entrance to his shop. 

On the south side of Market street, on the site of the present 404, 
stood, in 1791, the residence of Dr. Caspar Wistar, who, unfortu- 
nately for his fame as a scientist, was celebrated for his entertainments, 
and the mention of his name does not immediately call to mind the 
great labors of an early and learned anatomist, but the founder of the 
Wistar Parties. Of course, Dr. Wistar never founded the Wistar Party. 
That institution was founded after his death as a kind of continuance 
of his famed evenings at home. 

Dr. Wistar was one of the early graduates of the Medical School 
of the College of Philadelphia, now the University of Pennsylvania, and 
even before his studies there he had had some severe training as a 
volunteer in attending the wounded at the Battle of G-ermantown. After 
his graduation here in 1782 Dr. Wistar went to Edinburgh, where in 
1786 he received his doctorate, and where he became president of the 
Royal Society of Medicine of Edinburgh. He returned to his native 
city in 1787 and began the practice of his profession on Market street. 
He soon became connected with the Medical School of the College of 
Philadelphia and with the Philadelphia Dispensary and later with the 
Pennsylvania Hospital. After the death of Dr. William Shippen, Jr., in 
1808, Dr. Wistar, who had been his associate, was made Professor of 
Anatomy of the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania. 

As one of the leading physicians in Philadelphia and as a professor 
in its medical school, Dr. Wistar was a personage. It was no more 
than usual for savants from other countries visiting Philadelphia 
in those days to be invited to Dr. Wistar 's house, where it was certain 
they would meet some of the most intellectual men to be found in the 
city at the time. The evenings, which have been perpetuated in the 
more modern Wistar Parties, were always held on Saturday, and seem 
to have been inaugurated after Dr. Wistar had left Market street and 
went to live at the southwest corner of Fourth and Locust streets, in 
the building still standing there. 

The fame of the Saturday evenings at Dr. Wistar 's house spread. 
It was known that his house had become the centre of the literary and 
scientific society in Pliiladelphia, yet the doctor had designed his even- 
ings to be fnigal entertainments. They were begun with the simple 
intention of gathering his friends, principally members of the Philo- 
sophical Society, around his board, once a week. Started as informal 
reunions, they became in time subject to customs and regulation. As 
Dr. Wistar 's idea was principally that the entertainments should be 
intellectual rather than convivial, the refreshments were of the simplest 




UK. cAsi'Ai; wisTAi; 



WHSITMS 




ipiiiiiinr 







.,-^ (<" 






ft'- fi/f • 1 '/ .'' 



rr./ii.s/,J 



IXVITATIUX CAKI) OF TIIK IIEVIVKD WISTAK PAKTY 



Its Merchants and Its Stoey 79 

character. Tea, coffee, ice cream, raisins and almonds, seem to have 
formed the fare. 

But then the happy possessor of an invitation knew that he would 
probably meet with a distinguished foreign visitor, or of some equally 
prominent American from another city. Few declined the invitation, 
and it soon became a distingTiishing honor to be invited. Von Humboldt 
was once a guest, as was also the Abbe Correa, and, of course, all the 
noted physicians and legal dignitaries, such as Justices and Chief Jus- 
tices of our courts, in those days, at one time or other had a delightful 
evening at Dr. Wistar's house. Dr. Wistar for a time before his death 
was president of the Philosophical Society, and when after his demise 
his friends who had met at his house so frequently on Saturday nights 
decided that the custom was too good to pass away, they formed a little 
organization, limited to members of the Philosophical Society. 

If anything, the Wistar parties, given after Dr. Wistar's death 
by those who continued his idea, have become more famed than the 
originals. At the same time, they have been made the object of some 
good-natured jibes. While James Gordon Bennett, the founder of the 
New York Herald, was in Philadelphia associated in the management 
of the Pennsylvanian in the early 30 's, he attacked the Wistarians, as 
they were called. In those days Bennett was trying to do in Phila- 
delphia what he had failed to achieve in New York — receive recognition 
from the political powers. He does not appear to have had any notion 
of staying here, but believed that he could force matters by causing 
trouble in a new direction. At any rate, the Wistarians always believed 
that they had forced Bennett to leave Philadelphia, because after the 
attacks on their famed institution they withdrew their subscriptions 
to the Pennsylvanian. 

Doctor Wistar died in 1818 and the Wistar Parties seem to have been 
instituted the same year or within a veiy few years. They continued 
until the breaking out of the Civil War, when party strife, as well as 
the unrest of the country, had something to do with their abandonment. 
The Wistar Party, however, was revived about 1886. 



CHAPTER X 

FOURTH STEEET TO FIFTH, CONTINUED COLONEL SHIPPEN 

ELIZA LESLIE THOMAS SULLY 

Wliat was known as the western end of Market street after the 
Revolution, that is, the part that was being developed west of Fourth 
street, to about Ninth, had some notable residents. It is difficult to the 
stroller on Market street today who, by the way, will find strolling 
difficult in the hurrying crowds, to realize that people of fashion and 
persons of great wealth had their residences on that thoroughfare at 
one time. It is sti'anger to realize that at the same time Market street 
was of commercial importance, and that in 1785 next door to Colonel 
Joseph Shippen, brother of Edward Shippen, who later became Chief 
Justice of Pennsylvania, lived a tradesman, and that only three doors 
west of his house Samuel Nicholls kept a tavern, the Couestoga Wagon, 
while a few doors further on was a tobacconist, and another step west- 
ward a saddler had his shop, while Daniel Clymer, a lawj'er, and George 
Reinlioldt, a bookseller, were to be found in the same block on the south 
side of Market street, from Fourth street to Fiftli. 

Colonel Joseph Shippen lived in the liouse that stood on the site 
of the present 404 Market street, and that afterward was the home of 
Dr. Caspar Wistar. Colonel Shipiien, who acliieved some fame as a 
military commander in the French and Indian War, was a son of Ed- 
ward Shippen, who was Mayor of Philadelphia in 1744, and went to 
live in Lancaster in 1752, where he acted as paymaster for supplies for 
the British and provincial forces when they were commanded by Gen- 
eral Forbes, General Stanwix and Colonel Bouquet in the French and 
Indian War. Edward Shippen for some years was a partner of James 
Logan, who appears to have been responsible for his mercantile training. 

After he was graduated at Nassau Hall, now Princeton University, 
in 1753, Colonel Shippen entered the Provincial Army and rose to the 
rank of Colonel. He served with General Forbes in the expedition 
which resulted in the capture of Fort Du Quesne, and after the ti'oops 
were disbanded went to Europe, but returned in 1761. Soon after his 
return he was appointed Secretary to the Province, succeeding the Rev. 
Richard Peters, and in 1773 he removed to Kennett Square, Chester 
County. In the meantime he liad married Jane Galloway, a sister of 
Joseph Galloway, the Tory, and for a long period was in poor health. 
This is given as the reason whj' Colonel Shippen did not serve in the 

80 




^p? 




■«Si£,^- ;. 



a. 



Its Merchants and Its Story 81 

Continental forces during the Revolution. His absence from the army 
caused him to be regarded as a Loyalist. 

From the period just before the Revolution until some time after 
it, Colonel Shippen resided at his country seat, Plumley, in Chester 
County. How long he resided at Fourth and Market streets is not 
known, but in 1789 we find him in Lancaster, where his father had re- 
sided for many years, a Judge of the Lancaster coui't. He died in 1810. 

Colonel Shippen seems to have had some respectable literary at- 
tainments, for there is a lively bit of poetry, entitled "Lines Written 
in An Assembly Room," attributed to him, in which he describes some 
of the belles of his time, including the sister of Bishop White, after- 
ward Mrs. Robert Morris, Polly Franks, Sally Coxe and Abby Willing. 
Colonel Shippen had six children, one of whom, Joseph Galloway 
Shippen, was a physician, and another, Henry, became a judge in Lan- 
caster County. Of course, as brother to Edward Shippen, he was the 
uncle of the celebrated Pegg)^ Shippen, whose life was wrecked by her 
marriage to the traitor, General Benedict Arnold. 

In 1791 there were three inns on the south side of Market street, 
between Fourth and Fifth streets. One of these was at 410, the Cones- 
toga Wagon, kept by Mary NichoUs ; another at 432, kept by Nathaniel 
Brown, and one at 434, the Black Bear, kept by John Stein. The Black 
Horse was the only signboard hanging from an inn on the north side 
in this square, and that, in 1791, was kept by Alexander Clay. 

On the north side of the street in 1785, on the site of the present 
427, lived Colonel Thomas Forrest, whose remarkable career was re- 
viewed in a former chapter. At 167, now 411, in 1791 Robert Leslie, the 
father of Charles Robert Leslie, the artist, mentioned in a former 
chapter, kept his watchmaking establishment. It was here that Leslie's 
almost equally noted daughter, Eliza, was born in 1787. A former 
generation, that which was brought up with Godey's Lady's Book for 
a parlor guide and mentor, will recall Eliza Leslie as one of the fore- 
most women writers of her time in this countiy. Her first literary 
work was in poetry, and it was not until she was forty years of age 
that she began to apply herself to the writing of articles and stories. 
Her "Mrs. Washington Potts," a prize story that appeared in the 
pages of the old Godey's was the means of estal)lishing her fame as 
a writer of short tales. For several years she edited the annual called 
The Gift, and was one of the earliest editors to recognize the genius of 
Edgar Allen Poe, several of whose tales were published in The Gift. 

Eliza Leslie did not display any extraordinary artistic merit in 
her literary work, but it was quite equal, if not somewhat ahead, of 
the general run of sugary tales that then were printed for the edifica- 
tion of the young person. Miss Leslie's greatest success, however, was 
her "Cookery Book" which, after having run through nobody knows 



82 Maeket Street, Philadelphia 

how many editions, is still in some demand, and a copy of its first 
edition is now one of the scarcest works on the culinary art. 

Eliza Leslie for a year was editress of her own magazine, Miss 
Leslie's Magazine, which is worthy of note from the fact that during 
its short career it introduced to the United States many new forms of 
pietoi-ial reproductions, some of them of great cost and now unknown 
except to the few amateurs. It contained the first lithotint pictures 
produced in this country, and that as far back as 1843, when European 
lithographers were only experimenting with the process. Several other 
novelties in the way of illustrations were introduced, but the magazine 
in 1844 became Arthur's Ladies' Magazine, after a short but brilliant 
career. 

T\Tii]e we are on the north side of Market street we might stroll 
out to Fifth, where, on the northwest corner, in 1791, Israel Whelen had 
his office and where he also lived at certain seasons of the year. His 
great mansion, however, was near Downingtown. 

Israel TNlielen was another of the members of the Society of 
Friends who, for the time at least, put aside the principles of that sect 
during the Revolution and gave his services gladly and generously to 
his country. Mr. Whelen, who was the progenitor of the present race 
of bankers of the name, was not one of those members of the Society of 
Friends who were called Fighting Quakers, although he was a soldier. 
He was ever careful of the jirinciples of the Friends, but he refused to 
listen to those who would dissuade him from taking any part in the 
Revolution. 

He had been brought up to commerce, was recognized as an author- 
ity on banking and finance generally, and known as a shipping merchant 
of large resources. The Continental Congress soon after the beginning 
of the struggle appointed him commissioner and he signed the first 
issue of the Continental currency. He took a prominent part in the 
military operations, having entered the army under Washington to the 
consternation of many good, old, pious Friends. He was quick to as- 
sure them that he did not regard his action as being in any way opposed 
to his principles as a Friend, and in a historic letter to his wife at this 
time he wrote: 

Had I been fully convinced that It was wrong to resist lawless tyranny, 
bearing down all before it. I hope I should have had resolution enough to 
have stuck to my principles : but as that was not the case I can see no reason 
why I should be expected to follow any opinion that I was not convinced in 
my own mind was right. 

In another place Mr. Wlielen wrote to his wife : 

The real cause was in expectation to be serviceable to my friends and my 
country. If I can serve the latter faithfully it may yet be in my power to 
render some small service to the former. 

Mr. Whelen became Commissary General of the Army and financial 



Its Merchants and Its Stoky 83 

agent of the Government, and with the return of peace he quietly re- 
turned to the Friends, and when he died in 1806, at the age of fifty-four, 
he was buried in the Friends' burial ground at Fourth and Arch streets. 

Mr. Whelen was head of the Electoral College of Pennsylvania that 
cast the vote for John Adams for President ; he was one of the directors 
of the First Bank of the United States, and the third president of the 
Philadelphia Stock Exchange. In 1793 Mr. Whelen removed from the 
corner of Fifth and Market streets to a house at 196 Market street, next 
to the corner of Sixth, and in 1795 we find Israel Whelen and Joseph 
Miller, merchants, occupying the northwest corner of Fourth and Mar- 
ket streets and the building next to it on Market street. 

Another dweller in the square between Fourth and Fifth streets 
on Market, who is not well recalled today, was the Rev. Henry Helmuth, 
who was the pastor of the Lutheran congregations here for some time, 
but whose pamphlet on the yellow fever epidemic of 1793 entitles him 
to something more than mere mention. 

The Rev. Mr. Helmuth, who for the greater part of his time in this 
city was the pastor of St. Michael's Lutheran Church, was one of the 
last of the pastors sent to this country from Halle, Germany, before the 
Revolution. Twelve in all were sent over here, all of them graduates 
of the University of Halle, and virtually all of them men of great capa- 
city. Mr. Helmuth, after Dr. Muhlenberg went to Lancaster in 1779, 
succeeded him as pastor of St. Michael's, and then, for a time after 
the erection of Zion Church, Mr. Helmuth found himself with two 
churches on his hands. During a part of his residence in this city Mr. 
Helmuth was professor of German and Oriental languages in the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania. 

After the epidemic, which from figures of burials seems to have 
struck severely the German Lutheran congregation — Zion Church alone 
is said to have lost 625 members by the yellow fever — the Rev. Mr. 
Helmuth preached a scorching sermon, attributing the visitation of 
fever to the sinfulness of Philadelphia. The sermon was preached in 
German, but Tobias Hirt, having been deeply impressed by it, had it 
translated and printed early in 1794:. It is the most remarkable pam- 
phlet or publication evoked by the epidemic. It is probable that few 
Philadelphians had any idea that their city was so hopelessly sinful 
as was charged by the pastor of St. Michael's. He was particularly 
provoked by the fact that the bars had been let down to theatrical enter- 
tainments, and by the erection of the largest and finest theatre then on 
the continent. 

"It was Philadelphia," he said, "that did not rest until the performing 
of theatrical exhibitions was authorized by law. It was Philadelphia that 
refined so much on this species of vanity as to erect one of the largest houses 
upon the continent for theatrical exhibitions, and engaged actors at prodigious 



84 Market Street, Philadelphia 

expense. It was Philadelphia that imported from luxurious Europe, the 
number of 70 or SO actors and retainers of the stage, who actually arrived 
here exactly at the time when the fever raged with the utmost violence." 

He also charges Philadelphia with having been a great Sabbath 
breaker. 

"Philadelphia," he continued, "was the place that seemed to strive to ex- 
ceed all other places in the breaking of the Sabbath. It may be said with 
propriety that our Sundays and holy days were our most sinful day.s. Imme- 
diately at the break of day the rattling of the carriages began through all 
the streets. They hurried into the country with their families as early as 
possible, in order by no means to approach the Deity in public worship, along 
with other citizens and sincere Christians." 

St. Michael's pastor was ready to answer those who asked why 
the victims in his congregation were so many compared with those 
of other congregations. His answer was that the disease affected the 
poor principally because they could not leave the city, and that his 
congregation was largely composed of poor persons. But he added that 
he had found that 

the number of those who attended divine service and sickened and died is 
proportionally small compared with the number of those who never, or at 
least very seldom, attend our meetings, and nevertheless, were buried with 
us. I never heard of a single one of whom it could be supposed with any 
degree of certainty that he had taken the disorder in church. 

In the pavement in front of the Bourse Building, on Fifth street, 
there may be seen an inscription to the effect that that spot is the site 
of the Sparks Burial Ground of the Seventh-Day Baptists. Those per- 
sons who recall the old Eastern Market House on Fifth street below 
Market also will recall the small spot which always seemed to hide 
some mystery. It was inclosed by a high brick wall, and there seemed 
to be no entrance to it. This was all that was left of the original burial 
ground of the Seventh-Day Baptists, given by Richard Sparks in 1716. 

Sparks was an early purchaser of lots in Philadelphia, and had the 
lot at the southeast comer of Fifth and Market streets. He was a 
member of the sect then populai'ly known as Sabbath-Keepers, or 
Seventh-Day Baptists, and falling seriously ill, and realizing that there 
was no burial ground belonging to that denomination, added a para- 
graph to his will, dated January 14, 1716, bequeathing 100 feet "of the 
back end of my lot on ye south side of ye High street, Philadelphia, for 
a burial place, for ye use of ye people or society called ye Seventh-Day 
Baptists forever." He also noted that in this ground he desired to be 
buried. 

There is a long and involved history of the ground which we need 
not review now, especially as it has been rather exhaustively done by 
Dr. Julius F. Sachse in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History. By 




THOMAS 81I.I.Y KN HIS FIFTH STREET STUDIO, ABOUT 1870 



Its Merchants and Its Story 85 

degrees it appears the ground became a bone of contention between 
two congregations, one in this state and another in New Jersey. There 
were lessees holding leases from one or the other, and consequently a 
great deal of confusion. Thomas Simmonds, who resided in what was 
11 South Fifth street, at what would be the corner of the present Ran- 
stead street, erected several houses on that part of the lot about the 
beginning of the last century. 

The Harmony Fire Company about 1811, evidently under the im- 
pression that the lot, or part of it, was unappropriated domain, erected 
a firehouse on the north end of the property, and later opened a door 
on the south side of their building, thus virtually appropriating the 
whole lot. Early in the 20 's Stephen Girard bought the property south 
of the Sparks lot and forthwith attempted to get possession by pur- 
chase or lease of the remainder of the lot. By a piece of sharp practice 
Girard managed to get the Harmony Fire Company to depart upon 
pajTnent of $400, and immediately he took possession of the whole 
burial ground. Only a small part of the ground had been used for 
interments, and it was this section of it that in recent times was seen 
to be protected by the high brick wall on Fifth street. 

About 1830 Thomas Sully moved into the house formerly occupied 
by Thomas Simmonds, at 11 South Fifth street. Girard had the 
Sparks ground on the north side of Sully's house laid out in a garden 
for the painter. Later Ranstead street was cut through, and this sepa- 
rated the garden from Sully's house. In 1894, when Fifth street was 
widened, the old burial ground disappeared, for it was necessary to 
remove it for the improvement. At that time it was said that about 
twenty bodies were interred there. 

The mention of Thomas Sully recalls the career of a portrait 
painter whose fame has increased since his own time. It is trae that 
he painted so many years that his work began to show strong signs of 
decadence before his death. In other words, it is difficult to reconcile 
the masterly portrait of George Frederick Cooke in the Academy of 
Fine Arts with some of the portraits painted by Sully in the 60 's. The 
last i^ortrait he painted was of the late bookseller Robert A. Lindsay. 
It was painted in 1872 when the artist was eighty-nine years of age, 
and bears few signs of the master's brush. Sully lived to a great age, 
and painted continuously, having painted on a rough estimate probably 
1500 portraits and other subjects. Not all of these are by any means 
equally good. Some of the earlier pictures display a mastery that 
places the painter in the front rank of American painters, but many 
of his "heads" or studies are weak, although delicate and have the 
appearance of being imfinished. He seemed able to paint graceful and 
pretty heads of young women, and many of these were engraved for 
the annuals in the middle of the last century, but Sully's last strong 



86 Market Street, Philadelphia 

work was his portrait of Queen Victoria, wliicli he painted in the year 
of her coronation, 1837. 

Sully was the son of an equestrian performer, Lawrence Sully, 
who came to this country in 1792. At that time Thomas Sully was nine 
years of age. His elder brother, Lawrence, was a miniature painter, 
and he went to Virginia. There Thomas received some of his earliest 
training in art. One of his earliest efforts as a painter was a miniature 
portrait of Mrs. Warren, the leading actress of America in her day. 
This work was done in 1806, and the picture aftei-ward was engraved 
for the Mirror of Taste. About this time Sully married, on little 
more than ambition. However, he found friends in Philadelphia, who 
gave him money to take him to England to study and to copy old 
Masters. He had previously received some instruction from Gilbert 
Stuart, whose influence is strong in Sully's portrait work. Stuart un- 
doubtedly was Sully's master, and he continued to the end of his career 
to paint somewhat in the manner of the great American portraitist. 

After the death of Girard the property on Fifth street came into 
the possession of the city, but such was the regard which the members 
of the city government held for Thomas Sully that he was permitted 
to remain in his old house undisturbed until the end of his days. After 
he died, in 1872, the property was improved. 

At 429 Market street there still stands a granite monument erected 
by one of that highway's greatest merchant princes. Caleb Cope, who, 
although he was bom in 1797, lived so long and so full a life that many 
men only now in middle life recall him. Mr. Cope, who was born in 
Greensburg, Westmoreland County, came to Philadelphia when eigh- 
teen years of age and entered the big importing house owned by his 
uncles, Israel and Jasper Cope, then on the site of the present 409 
Market street. He remained with his uncles until he succeeded them 
in the business under the firm name of Caleb Cope & Co. Mr. Cope 
was active in all movements that made for better business and a better 
city and was a member of its leading learned societies. As we have 
seen, he was one of the projectors of the Merchants Hotel, and in 1854 
opened the great granite building at 429. At the time of its erection 
it was regarded as the finest mercantile house in the citj'; certainly 
it was looked upon as the most ambitious one, as it was then the 
most modern in construction and in the application of new ideas. 
Gleason's Pictorial, an illustrated weekly published in Boston, devoted 
a page to describing and picturing the new stnicture, which thus became 
known all over the country. When the store was completed the firm 
gave a supper at Jones's Hotel to the architects and woi'kmen who had 
erected it, and there were fifty guests. At this time Mr. Cope had 
virtually retired from active business life and had left the business to 
his young men. In a speech he delivered at the supper he admitted that 




n SOUTH iii-Tii sii;i;i:i'. whkim; 'iikimas sri.i.v i.ivkh. ]s:j(( isTi 



The liuildiiiy; was removed shortly after the iiaiiUer's 
death when the property was improved. The thoroughfare 
l)eside the house is Raustead street. 



Its Merchants and Its Story 87 

the building had been suggested by them. However, three years later 
the fury of the panic of 1857 broke over the country, and the firm was 
one of the hundreds that failed. Despite this, Mr. Cope succeeded in 
paying off all his creditors and still had a comfortable fortune. For 
nearly a quarter century before his death, in 1888, he was president of 
The Philadelphia Savings Fund Society and during his administration 
its assets increased from $4,500,000 to $30,000,000. 



CHAPTER XI 

FIFTH STREET TO SIXTH ALFRED NEWSAM, THE DEAF MUTE ARTIST THE 

PENNSYLVANIA HOSPITAL'S BEGINNING COLONEL BENNETT 

Fifth and Market streets was the scene of the first work of art 
of Albert Newsam, the deaf mute artist and lithographer, produced in 
Philadelphia, and, strangely enough, this immature masterpiece, which 
altered Newsam 's career, was drawn on a watch box. 

There have been no watch boxes for more than haJf a century, but 
for the benefit of the curious it may be said that a watch box was more 
or less shaped like the police patrol boxes which contained the first 
police telephone service instruments installed here. The old watch 
boxes, however, were a great deal larger and were constructed of wood. 
They were to be found at the corners of streets at intervals of a few 
squares. One of these stood at the corner of Fifth and Market streets, 
and one day in May, 1820, a crowd of idlers and passersby surrounded 
it watching the artistic efforts of a small deaf-mute boy who was pic- 
turing Market street from the corner westward. He was just putting 
the finishing touches to his sketch in chalk, when a venerable gentleman, 
with white hair and a benevolent air, stopped to learn the reason for 
the crowd. He watched the boy drawing a faithful picture of the 
market shed and the buildings on the street, and the cleverness of the 
lad attracted the instant attention of the good man. 

The venerable gentleman was none other than Bishop William 
White, who had identified himself with numerous philanthropies, and 
just then was deeply interested in the newly instituted school for deaf 
mutes, of whose board of trustees he was president. The Bishop made 
inquiries about the boy and found he was in charge of another deaf 
mute, and that both had just arrived from Ohio, and were stopping at 
the Black Bear, a farmers' inn, then at the corner of Merchant, now 
Ludlow street and Fifth. The Black Bear, as we saw in a former 
chapter, originally was on Market street below Fifth. There it stood 
a little back from the street, and about 1810, "backed out into Fifth 
street," as one historian picturesquely describes its removal. 

The man who had the deaf mute in charge explained that his name 
was William P. Davis, and the boy was his brother, Albert N. Davis. 
There was something about the man that did not ring true. Indeed, 
he was suspected of being an impostor, but he survived the tests which 
were intended to throw him off of his guard, and show him to be a 
88 



Its Merchants and Its Stoey 89 

person who could both speak and hear. He wrote his own story and 
that of the boy on the little slate the latter carried. He wrote that he 
was a native of Reading, Pa., and that he had been educated by the 
celebrated Abbe Sicard. He further explained that he had found the 
bo}', his brother, in Steubenville, Ohio, and that he had brought him on 
for instruction in Philadelphia. 

The managers of the Philadelphia Institution for the Deaf and 
Dumb held a hasty meeting, and agreed that the boy should be placed 
in the institution, and he thus became the State's protege. The man 
received a sum of money upon his statement that he was on his way 
to Virginia to see some of his relations, and he never again was seen. 
The boy proved to be the orphan of an Ohio boatman named Newsam, 
who had been drowned. It was learned that he had been kidnapped 
from his mother and guardian in Steubenville by the impostor and 
mendicant, and his natural talent for drawing had been made a source 
of profit on the way to Philadelphia. 

Albert was placed in the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, then 
at the southeast corner of Eleventh and Market streets, on the site of 
the New Bingham Hotel, and soon displayed great talent for drawing 
and also proved to be a model pupil. After he had been educated he 
was placed with Cephas G. Childs, the engraver, and apprenticed to 
the trade of engraving on steel. But Albert Newsam did not do much 
as an engraver on steel, for he was found to be expert with the crayon, 
and just about that time the art of lithography was attracting attention 
of engravers in this country. Childs engaged in the new business, and 
the talent of Albert Newsam was found of the greatest value to his 
employer. 

Newsam was a most faithful copyist, and at the same time a re- 
markable technician in lithography. As a draughtsman of original sub- 
jects he was strangely weak. His portraits from life are among the 
failures of his career, but his copies of portraits are remarkable 
for the delicacy of the technique and for the deep understanding of the 
artist for his medium. Newsam, soon after Childs had established his 
lithographic plant, was placed in charge of the drawing room, and the 
portraits he then drew are even now attracting the attention of col- 
lectors of lithographs in this country. For artistic presentation of his 
subjects Newsam was unequaled by any other artist then engaged in 
lithography in this country and, indeed, some of his work has since 
rarely been equaled here. Yet there is a strange weakness in the greater 
part of his work, which may be set down to his natural infirmities. 

His deprivation of two senses undoubtedly prevented him from 
siicceeding t-o the fullest extent. He realized his limitation and for a 
time went to James E. Lambdin for instruction in portrait painting, 
but that master found that his development seemed hopeless. He 



90 Market Street, Philadelphia 

bought and studied the best work of the European lithographers, and 
it was the dream of his life to be regarded as in a class with the best 
of them. But in this he was fated to fail, for he had limitations; he 
was weak in drawing anything but a head, upon which he would lavish 
much care. There was nothing spontaneous about his work; it all was 
evidently labored, which made it fall just short of greatness ; yet thei'e 
was none that could equal him in copying a portrait and presenting it 
in an artistic manner. 

Newsam seems to have been fated to disappointments. He mar- 
ried, but his marriage was a failure. A treacherous friend took a large 
pai't of his collection of valuable lithographs and sold them, and in 
the fire that destroyed the Artisan Building at Fourth and Eanstead 
streets in 1856 virtually the whole of his remaining drawings and litho- 
graphs were lost. The artist suffered a stroke of paralysis, and his 
last days were spent in the Living Home of Wilmington where, through 
the kindness of friends, he was taken. There he died in November, 
1864, and was buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery. He was the first great 
lithographer produced in this country. 

On the south side of Market street west of Fifth the Pennsylvania 
Hospital was first located. This was only temporary quarters until 
the buildings at Eighth and Spruce streets could be erected. The house 
selected for the beginning of the experiment, for at the time it was 
little more to the majority of persons, although its founders had a very 
clear idea of the value of such an institution in the city, had been the 
home of Chief Justice John Kinsey, of the Provincial Supreme Court. 
Justice Kinsey had his mansion house on Market street just west of 
Fifth, about the site of 508, and from all descriptions it seems to have 
been surrounded by pastures and gai'dens, although it did not extend 
quite as far westward as Sixth sti-eet. The house, from all evidences, 
could not have been large, for the managers of the hospital realized 
that the building was unsuitable, especially for the cai'e of the insane. 

Franklin, in his "Autobiography," has given such a lively desci'ip- 
tion of the foundation of the hosjiital that little that is new about it 
can be added at this time. While the great philosopher is careful to 
deny that the idea originated with him, yet he seems to have keenly 
enjoyed the compliment that compelled its founder to apply to him to 
make the enterprise successful. No one could have told the stoiy so 
artfully and yet so truthfully as Franklin did in his charming story of 
his own career. Dr. Thomas Bond, a native of Calvert County, Mary- 
land, who had studied in the Paris hospitals, came to Philadelphia in 
1732, when he was little more than twenty years old, and began the 
practice of medicine. His brother. Dr. Phineas Bond, who was a few 
years his junior, had studied medicine in Leyden, Paris, Edinburgh and 
London and also was engaged in practice here, and both of them were 




MAUKI/r srUKKT. SOITII SIIH:. FIFTH Td SIXTH. AI'.nrT ISCS 



The iiiiisl strikiiii: ohjci-f in tlif ]ili()tiif;i-;iiili is Die liiittle- 
iiieiilcd tiiwer which arose over ('olniicl P.eiiiiett's "Tower 
Hal].' Atmther ecceiifri(it.\- iif the Culoiiel was liavint: his 
sign on I lie easteni wall of his laiilclini.' painted 1 ai-l;waril. 



Its Merchants and Its Story 91 

members of the first medical staff of the Pennsylvania Hospital, which 
Dr. Thomas Bond may be said to have founded. 

The Province, and especially the city of Philadelphia, was growing 
very fast toward the middle of the eighteenth century, and the necessity 
for a charitable hospital where the poor and sick and especially the 
insane could be cared for, was quickly recognized by Dr. Thomas 
Bond. Consequently he set out to interest the wealthy persons in 
the city with a view to their contribution of money toward the establish- 
ment of such an institution. At that time Dr. Bond does not appear 
to have been intimate with Franklin, because he did not call upon him. 
However, everj'where Dr. Bond went he found persons interested, but 
they did not subscribe, usually asking if he had seen Franklin and 
what Franklin thought of such an enterprise. At least that is the way 
the philosopher tells the story in his "Autobiography," and there is 
no reason to doubt it. Finally, when he had failed in every direction, 
the Doctor called upon Franklin. He franklj' explained the reason of 
his visit, and why he had come to interest the printer. At the same 
time he explained that the reason he had not called befox-e was that 
he did not believe Franklin could be interested in such an enterprise. 

Knowing Franklin's character and his own great experience in 
the world, one can almost picture the great philosopher smiling at the 
method pursued by Dr. Bond. Franklin at once saw that such an enter- 
prise needed a press agent. He had, in his own practice, as he is frank 
to explain, always put a few "readers" in his newspaper when he 
wanted to start something. That prepared the public mind, and once 
prepared, the soil was ready for the onset of the man with the sub- 
scription book. Dr. Bond had not attempted to get any publicity for 
his proposals. He had worked quietly and genteelly and had lost. 
Franklin at once took hold of the plan. First he set down his name 
for a subscription, which would be good bait for the next person 
asked. Then he wrote several letters on the subject of the necessity 
of a public hospital in his Gazette, and the enterprise was well on its 
way. Franklin did even more. He saw that the Province ought to 
appropriate something, and being then a member of the Assembly, he 
cunningly devised a bill that worked out just as he knew it would. 

Then, as now, the country members were stubborn about anything 
desired for Philadelpliia. They declared that the hospital would sei-\'e 
the city principally and consequently the citizens ought to support it. 
But they derided the idea that £2000 could be subscribed for the hos- 
pital, and Franklin, learning that, devised his bill to make it dependent 
upon the subscription of that amount before the Province should ap- 
propriate an equal amount in two sums a year apart. The coun- 
try members fell completely into the trap, for it was nothing else, 
for almost at the time the bill was before the Assembly nearly that 



92 Maeket Street, Philadelphia 

amount had been subscribed. Within a short time not only was £2000 
subscribed, but even more appeared on Dr. Bond's paper, and then the 
Province found it had agreed to give £2000 toward the erection of a 
hospital building. 

So much for the romance of the origin of the hospital. The hos- 
pital was organized, the contributors held meetings in the parlor of the 
Widow Pratt's Royal Standard Tavern, on Market street near Second, 
and in October, 1751, arrangements were made for renting the house 
"of the late John Kinsey, deceased, with gardens, pasture, stable, etc.," 
for £40 a year, and make repairs amounting to £25. These repairs, or 
alterations, were made, and on February 10, 1752, the first patients 
were received into the Pennsylvania Hospital. One of these was an 
insane woman, whose son-in-law agreed to pay £20 a yq^r for her care. 
It was discovered that the fittings had cost more than had been expected, 
and that the managers had run into debt about £150. 

In the directory for 1785 we find an Abel Kensey, or Kinsey, dwell- 
ing at what would be 512 Market street. This Mr. Kinsey may have 
been related to the Justice. In 1795 and in 1801 an Abraham Kintzing, 
or Kinsey, for the name appears thus printed in the directories for 
those years, dwelt at what would now be 508. In 1795 he is set down 
as a grazier, and in 1801 as a gentleman, but evidently the retired 
grazier was not related to Justice Kinsey. 

A little further westward, on this side of the street, may still be 
seen at 518 the massive granite front of what in former years was 
Colonel Joseph M. Bennett's Tower Hall. About the middle of the last 
century Colonel Bennett had what was then regarded as the largest 
clothing business in this city, and the business which made the name of 
Philadelphia known for the character of its clothing in the South and 
West. The house did not employ any traveling salesmen, but depended 
entirely upon newspaper advertising and certain other forms of pub- 
licity to sell its goods. 

The firm used to be rather proud of its distinction of "keeping a 
poet," and there are still many persons living who will recall the verses 
of "The Bard of Tower Hall," which used to ornament Colonel Ben- 
nett's advertisements on the first page of the Public Ledger in those 
days. Lewis Dela was the name of the Tower Hall bard, and when he 
was not writing epic verses, which always concluded with the advice to 
go to Tower Hall for clothing, he was selling some of the self-same 
clothing. 

Mr. Dela had a lively, entertaining style of versifying and always 
used some homely topic. If what he wrote was not good poetry neither 
was it any worse than much of the poetry then appearing in the maga- 
zines. For the great part he parodied the better-known poems of 
greater poets, but frequently he used an original topic and treated it 







x J- i 



x; 3 I" 



" = 2 




Its Merchants and Its Story 93 

in an original manner. One of his advertisements in verse was headed 
"Law Versus Saw," published in 1857, which from the two last stanzas 
will be noted to be cast in an agreeable metre : 

This couclusion then I draw, 
That no exercise of jaw. 
Twisting India-rubber law, 

Is as good 
As the exercise of paw. 
When the healthy muscles draw 
On the handle of a saw, 

Sawing wood. 

Yet we cannot all saw wood, 
And we would not if we could ; 
This is plainly understood. 

As we know ; 
But at Bennett's Tower Hall, 
Lo, the uiillious, short and tall. 
Buy their Clothing, one and all. 

Very low. 

For nearly thirty years these poetical advertisements came from 
Tower Hall, even after Colonel Bennett had retired from the business. 

Colonel Bennett's career was another instance of a poor boy rising 
from comparative poverty to wealth, getting his start by sheer industry 
and attention to business. He was born in Juliustown, N. J., in 1816. 
His mother was a member of the Society of Friends. His father was 
a miller, but the sou desired to learn tailoring, and while a boy came to 
this city and was put at the trade. Soon after he attained his majority 
and had completed his apprenticeship he started in business in Ken- 
sington. The business improved and soon young Bennett found a part- 
ner, James C. Umberger. Together they bought out Laurent Brothers, 
who had a store on the south side of Market street, between Fifth and 
Sixth streets and next door to the building later erected as Tower Hall. 
Business here improved rapidly, and the young tailor decided to reflect 
this improvement by erecting a stately building. Before Tower Hall 
was finished, however, Bennett's partner, Mr. Umberger, died, and it 
was about this time that Colonel Bennett had in his employ John AVana- 
maker, who came to him as a mere boy, but who had had some little 
experience in the business from his position at Lippincott's, at Fourth 
and Market streets. Long after Mr. Wanamaker had shown himself 
to be a great storekeeper and merchant. Colonel Bennett remarked : " I 
always knew there was something in that boy that would make a great 
man and a great merchant. ' ' 

During the Civil War Colonel Bennett made a great deal of cloth- 
ing for the Federal Govei-nment and, having been attracted to real 
estate investments, sold out his business to Garitee, Masten & Allen in 
1879. While Bennett was a young man Governor Porter commissioned 
him colonel in command of a regiment of militia in General Small's 
brigade, which answers the query as to where he derived his title. 



94 Market Street, Philadelphia 

About the time of the Civil War Colonel Bennett bought the 
Savage mansion, which with its great garden was a landmark at the 
northwest corner of Eleventh and Spruce streets. This property he 
sold about 1890, and the present row of dwellings was erected on its 
site. The property interests of Colonel Bennett were unusually large. 
He bought Druid Hill Park, in Baltimore, and afterward sold it to 
that city. He once owned the Ocean House, at Long Branch, when that 
resort was the most fashionable hotel on the Atlantic Coast. About 
the time he retired from the clothing business he jjurchased Fox's 
American Theatre, and under the name of the Chestnut Street Opera 
House the playhouse has since been conducted. Two adjoining prop- 
erties on the east of the theatre also were purchased by Colonel Ben- 
nett, and all of this parcel of land, now probably worth $1,000,000, if 
not more than that amount, he left to the University of Pennsylvania 
in his will. During his lifetime, however, he had given to the University 
the properties 3228 to 3238 Walnut street, to be used for donnitories 
for women, for he is responsible for such co-education as is found in 
the University today. 

After his death it was discovered that while Colonel Bennett be- 
lieved he had given these properties to the University, he had neglected 
some legal technicalities and the University did not have clear title at 
all. This matter was arranged amicably with other beneficiaries under 
his will in 1902, and the properties which he gave were properly trans- 
ferred to the University. Colonel Bennett also gave some land to the 
city for Fairmount Park, and also virtually all of the old Gentleman's 
Driving Park, which he owned, to the Methodist Episcopal Orphanage 
and the Methodist Episcopal Home for the aged. He died September 
29, 1898. 










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CHAPTER Xn 

FIFTH STREET TO SIXTH THE BIG FIBE OF 1856 HUDSON'S BLOCK 

NATHAN SELLERS FRENEAU 

Market street has been a business thoroughfare almost from the 
beginning of the city. Naturally, therefore, it has been the scene of a 
good many fires of more or less importance. These, within the memory 
of many readers, have been so numerous that they cannot all be included 
here. But the fire that burned many buildings on Market street be- 
tween Fifth and Sixth streets, in 1856, was one of the largest that 
this city had witnessed up to that time, and some reference to it should 
be made here, while we pause at Fifth street on our westward journey, 
for nothing else was talked of for weeks in Philadelphia. 

This fire, which the Public Ledger the next day referred to as a 
conflagration, started in the paper warehouse of Jessup & Moore, on 
North street, early on the morning of April 30, 1856. Readers of the 
newspaper of the next day must have regarded their paper as enter- 
prising, for there was a brief account of the fire in it which they had at 
breakfast time. It is true that the account was brief, but there was a 
postscript dated 3 A. M., which prepared the people of Philadelphia 
for the alarming particulars which they received in the following day's 
issue. 

In those days it was customary for the majority of the local dailies 
to print such accounts about thirty-six hours after they occurred, but 
the Ledger on this occasion managed to beat that rate by at least thirty 
hours. 

The fire, assisted by a strong northeast wind, spread rapidly. The 
method of sending alarms in those days was primitive, and the fire 
department was a volunteer organization. Consequently when the first 
hose and engine companies arrived the flames already had doomed the 
building in which the fire originated, and were eating their way through 
to Market street and westward to Sixth street. In all forty buildings 
were affected before the flames were subdued, and the end was not 
reached until many stores on both sides of Market street were more or 
less damaged. The entire loss was placed at $697,000, which was an 
enormous one for that day. One fireman was killed by falling walls 
in North street, and several others were reported missing, while a 
member of the Franklin Hose Company was fatally stabbed by two 
members of the Moyamensing Hose Company at Seventh and St. James 

95 



96 Maeket Street, Philadelphia 

(now Commerce) streets. A fire covering the same area today prob- 
ably would cause a loss of several million dollars. 

The site of this great fire originally was known as Hudson's Square, 
and included the area between Fifth and Sixth streets and Market and 
Arch streets. It was owned by William Hudson, a Yorkshire tanner, 
who came to this city as a settler in 1682. There have been suggestions 
made that he was connected with that Henry Hudson who discovered 
Delaware bay, and then, owing to the sand bars, neglected to penetrate 
the river and thus lost credit for discovering the great South river. 

William Hudson came to Philadelphia when property was cheap, 
if one was not particular to take "fronts" (lots on either the Delaware 
or Schuylkill). Hudson bought a great deal of property on Third 
street below Chestnut, and the square already alluded to. He was a 
man of prominence in the community and was chosen one of the orig- 
inal Councilmen appointed by Penn under the City Charter of 1701. 
He was twice a member of the Assembly, in 1706, and again in 1724. 
In 1715 we find him an alderman, and in 1725 and 1726 Mayor of the 
city. He died in 1742, having lived long enough to see his children 
married into many of the first families in his time. 

Hudson came here when the site of the city was in its primitive 
wildness, and Pastorius noted in one of his papers that he had lost 
himself in the woods between the water front, where he was living in 
a cave, and William Hudson's house, at Third and Chestnut streets. 
There is a note in "Watson's Annals" to the effect that William Hudson 
at first was a clergyman of the Church of England, but that he became 
a Friend from conviction. 

It was perhajos after William Hudson's death that the two small 
streets were opened through his property known as Hudson's Square. 
They are to be found on the map of the city printed in 1762, and the 
one nearest Arch street was at first called North alley. In recent years 
it was named North street, and about twenty years ago received its 
present name, Cuthbert street. The other street, which was the first 
above Market, was known as South alley, but in the last century received 
the name of Commerce street. 

The grandson of William Hudson lived at the northwest corner of 
Fifth and Market streets, and in the directory for 1785 we find the 
house on that corner occupied by Samuel Hudson, the last of the male 
line of descent. 

At this time the whole of the original property on the square had 
not been sold. There still were vacant lots on the north side of Market 
street between Fifth and Sixth streets. Next to Samuel Hudson at this 
time lived Israel Jones, and next to him Dr. Dunlap. 

On the site of what is now 517 lived John Pemberton, gentleman, 
a son of Israel Pemberton, whose great house was at Third and Chest- 



Its Merchants and Its Stoey 97 

nut streets. John Pemberton had a mansion near the Wissahiekon. 
After his death his widow occupied his Market street house. 

In this same row in 1785 lived at what now would be 531, Dr. 
Joseph Redman, and next to him, on the site at 533, Nathan Sellers. 
The northeast comer of Sixth and Market streets at this time was a 
vacant lot owned by a descendant of William Hudson. Not a great deal 
appears to be known of this Dr. Joseph Redman, who is said to have 
been a son of the great Dr. John Redman. 

William Shippen, Sr., who, it seems, was not a connection of the 
Edward Shippen who was an early Mayor of Philadelphia, and whose 
only claim to fame is to be found in the fact that he was a delegate to 
the Continental Congress from Pennsylvania from 1778 to 1780, in 1791 
was occupying the house in which Dr. Joseph Redman resided in 1785. 

Nathan Sellers, who was bred to the law, but became famed for 
his invention of drawn wire and wire weaving at a time when this in- 
dustry was a new one in this country, erected the house on Market street 
in 1782. Horace Wells Sellers, a great-grandson of Nathan Sellers, 
some years ago induced his uncle, George Escol Sellers, an engineer, 
who died in 1899, aged ninety-one years, to write his recollections, chiefly 
about the residents of the vicinity of Sixth and Market streets, and 
mainly from these recollections, through the courtesy of Mr. Sellers, 
the information about the Sellers' homestead at Sixth and Market 
streets is derived. 

Nathan Sellers, after studying law and conveyancing with Henry 
Hale Graham, Prothonotary at Chester, prior to the Revolutionaiy 
War, came to Philadelphia and for a time served as recorder of the 
Supreme Executive Council in this city. His father, John Sellers, was 
an active member of the Assembly, and, being also engaged in numerous 
undertakings, he called his son Nathan back to Delaware County to 
take charge of his wire working and weaving industries. At the out- 
break of the Revolution Nathan, who in 1776 was twenty-five years of 
age, was an ensign in Colonel Paschal's battalion. He was in New 
Jersey on active serv'ice when he was I'ecalled from military duty by a 
special resolution of Congress, so that he might assist in making paper 
molds. 

As may be understood, these are made of wire ; and as those used 
had been imported from England, the opening of hostilities had placed 
an embargo on this kind of import. There was need of paper, but it 
could not be made without molds. Nathan Sellers, returning to take 
charge of this new trade, found he had to begin at the beginning. He 
was comi^elled to invent a method of drawing and annealing wire, and 
there were other processes required that he found had to be invented. 
He was so successful in devising new processes that afterward the 
improvements he had made were adopted in Europe for the same work. 



98 Makket Street, Philadelphia 

After the Revolution Nathan Sellers took one of his younger 
brothers, David, into the business, and they established themselves on 
Sixth street north of Market. They had a monopoly of the trade and 
their business prospered. In 1782 Nathan Sellers purchased the lot 
on Market street from Mrs. Sarah Moore, wife of Dr. Thomas Moore 
and granddaughter of William Hudson. As soon as the new house 
was built Nathan Sellers moved his office to his dwelling, in accordance 
with the custom of the time. The late George Escol Sellers has left not 
only a good written description of his dwelling but also has left a 
drawing of the building as he remembered it. 

Horace Wells Sellers describing this old house and, being an expe- 
rienced architect and engineer, is able to speak with authority, says : 

The building as originally erected was typical of many merchants' houses 
of the period, the ground tloor being occupied as a warehouse and counting 
room, with a separate entrance to the residence portion. The entrance was 
at the eastern line and approached by a flight of marble steps and opened 
into a long, wide hallway. This extended to the stair hall in the rear of 
the main building. The dining room was on the ground floor of the back 
building, overlooking a side yard. This yard extended to the end of the 
back building, where it connected by a terrace and flight of steps with the 
garden, which was the whole width of the lot, extending to the coach house 
and stable, facing a court which opened into Sixth street. The stairway 
in the rear of the entrance hall led to the living rooms above, the parlor 
being on the front of the building, the full width of the house making a 
room about 24 feet square. The entire back building and the remaining 
portions of the maiu house below the attic were fitted for the family uses. 

Nathan Sellers retired from business in 1817 and his house at Sixth 
and Market streets was then occupied by his eldest son, Coleman Sellers, 
who succeeded him in the business. Coleman Sellers remained there 
until 1829, when he built a residence and a warehouse adjoining it 
on North Sixth street. The residence was at 10 North Sixth street, at 
the southwest corner of what then was Mulberiy court, and now is 
Commerce street. Here Coleman Sellers began to take interest in the 
construction of fire engines, and formed a partnership with a Mr. Per- 
kins under the style of Perkins & Sellers, for the manufacture of these 
pieces of apparatus. Their shop was in the rear of Market street near 
Seventh, and was reached only through Mulberry court, not then opened 
to Seventh street. The firm built what was known as a "Hydraulien," 
which is said to have been the first marked improvement in fire engine 
building since they had been adopted. Later, under the firm name of 
Sellers & Peimoek, the manufacture of these fire engines was continued 
at Sixteenth and Market streets. 

Coleman Sellers married Sophonisba Peale, a daughter of Charles 
Wilson Peale, the American historical portrait painter of the Revo- 
lution, whose work is identified with Philadelphia. This Coleman 
Sellers was one of the commissioners to erect the Eastern Penitentiary. 

One day in the late fall of the year 1834, during her six weeks ' stay 




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U'll by lllc l;lH' (;iM)l-,-t' I':scci| Scllci-s. Tile 
house sldnd lu'M 111 ilic cMslcni cnnicr .il' 
Sixth slrci'l. 



Its Merchants and Its Story 99 

in Philadelphia, Harriet Martineau, that remarkable woman and writer, 
was hovering around the vicinity of Sixth and Market streets, seeking 
out historic sites. It appears from a reminiscence of George Escol 
Sellers, already referred to, that at that period he was a young man 
and lived at SLxth and St. James, or Commerce, streets. He recalled 
the incident by saying that he was standing at the corner of Sixth and 
Market streets when a lady approached him and inquired from him 
who lived in this house and that, and drew from him what he had heard 
of the dwellers in the neighborhood. Both seemed to be attracted to 
each other ; Miss Martineau in the entertaining and well-inf onned young 
man, and young Sellers in the inquisitive stranger. When the stranger 
had learned all she could she thanked Mr. Sellers and placed a card 
in his hand. He looked at it and then, too late to expi-ess his astonish- 
ment, he learned that he had been talking to the most remarkable Eng- 
lish woman of her time. 

It appears that Miss Martineau was in search of the former home 
of Dr. Priestley, which was in this neighborhood, and while she might 
have been able to rest her eyes upon the building in 1834, it is certain 
that no one can do so today. 

George Escol Sellers, in his memoirs, also mentions that at one 
time their next-door neighbor on Market street, in the house which we 
have seen both Dr. Joseph Eedman and William Shippen, Sr., had oc- 
cupied, was Timothy Pickering, and Philip Freneau, the journalist and 
poet, is also said to have been resident in the neighborhood at one of 
the corners of Sixth and Market streets. 

George Escol Sellers maintained the tradition of the Sellers family 
by becoming a prominent engineer and inventor. He invented a pro- 
cess of making pulp paper from reeds; he made some basic improve- 
ments in the locomotive, on some of the first engines used on the Phila- 
delphia and Columbia Railroad; his improvement in the process of 
making lead pipe is probably used to the present day. At the time the 
Panama Railroad was being constructed Mr. Sellers invented a type 
of hill-climbing locomotive for that road which was being built under 
the direction of the elder John Trautwine, as chief engineer. He also 
devised what was called an oragraph, a machine for taking levels in 
topographical surveying. It was a most ingenious instrument, but, 
although it was adopted by the United States Government, it was soon 
superseded by the plane table method still in use. Mr. Sellers also 
organized an artists' sketch club, the first f onned in this city. This 
was shortly before 1830, and among the members were Thomas Sully 
and Felix 0. C. Darley. 

In 1793 this block had a rather remarkable literary and Revolu- 
tionary character among its residents. This was Philip Freneau, the 
poet of the Revolution, who is said to have divided with Thomas Paine 



100 Market Street, Philadelphia 

the literary honors of that struggle, and whose poems are said to have 
been almost equally effective with the pamphlets of the author of 
"Common Sense." 

Freneau was a printer-journalist who had a gift for the rapid 
writing of occasional satirical verse. It may not have been great poetry, 
or even good poetry, but it had what nowadays is called "a punch" 
in its lines ; it conveyed political sentiments in a compelling manner and 
always was stirringly partisan. The ardent, persistent character of 
Freneau 's partisanship is difficult to understand by present-day stand- 
ards. He published a paper for the Jeffersonian Republicans, as they 
were called in that period, and it could not have been very agreeable 
reading for the "monarchists," as Freneau was wont to describe the 
Federalists. The poet was intensely bitter against the whole Federal 
party, including Washington, Adams and Hamilton, whom he alluded 
to as "Atlas," and continued to hurl literary harpoons into their politi- 
cal hides week after week in the columns of his National Gazette. 

There would be nothing remarkable in all this, perhaps, even to 
present-day readers, but can it be imagined that the Administration in 
Washington would continue a clerk in the State Department who not 
only openly conducted a virulent organ against it, but even against 
the chief officers of the Government? Yet that is precisely what 
Freneau did while he was in Philadelphia. He was a friend of Jeffer- 
son, then, in 1791, Secretary of State, and at the same time was editor 
of the National Gazette, which did all it could to inflame the people's 
minds against the Administration. It was generally understood that 
the poet was only carrying out Jefferson's instructions, and that the 
Gazette was his personal organ, but Freneau managed to retain his 
clerkship through it all. The National Gazette was begTiii in 1791, and 
continued for about two years, or to the close of the second volume. 
While he was publishing this newspaper Freneau resided at what then 
was 209 Market street, and what now would be on the site of 511 Market 
street. The poet soon after left this city and started a newspaper in 
New Jersey, and there brought out the first edition of his poems in one 
volume. Another edition in two volumes was published here in 1809. 

Coming down to about the middle of the last century we find a 
novel restaurant at what now is 519 Market street. This building was 
erected or altered by J. W. Pennington in 1847 into a restaurant. At 
that time, and a part of it is still remaining, there was a cupola and 
steeple, the front of the tower being devoted to a clock. Pennington 
appears to have kept the place for several years and in 1850 the restau- 
rant — or public house, as it then was called, for liquor was served as 
well as meals — was conducted by Martha Pennington. 

The first floor was arranged like the old English taverns, with little 
box-like compartments, where small parties or even single persons could 



Its Merchants and Its Story 101 

make themselves cozy and comfortable and have their food and drink 
sei-ved to them. The young bloods, to whom nothing was sacred, used 
to call these little stalls bunks, and they gave the place the name of 
"The Steamboat," because they declared that the arrangements were 
exactly like staterooms. In those days it was a place of popular resort 
and later some other frequenters delighted to allude to Pennington's 
place as "The Clock," from the big timepiece that ornamented its 
tower. For the last forty or more years, however, the place has been 
used for commercial purposes of a different character. 



CHAPTER XIII 

FIFTH STEEET TO SIXTH, CONTINUED THE PRESIDENTIAL MANSION AND ITS 

HISTORIC OCCUPANTS 

Probably the most historic spot on Market street, between Fifth 
and Sixth streets, is the site of the house in which Washington lived 
while President of the United States. The late Governor Pennypacker 
in one of his addresses has referred to the little-appreciated fact that 
the greater part of Washington's public career was passed in Pennsyl- 
vania. There is no need here to review that career, but it is of interest 
to bring vividly to mind the fact that Washington was a resident here 
from 1790 imtil 1797. Of course his presence was not continuous, for 
he was accustomed to return to Mt. Vernon when Congress was not 
in session and there was little public business to be transacted, yet this 
did not leave him many months out of the city during those seven 
years. 

In the directory for 1791 the number of the executive mansion on 
Market street was set down as 190. That of course does not convey 
any idea of its site under the present system of numbering, but it was 
definitely settled by a committee about thiry or more years ago, who 
made an exhaustive inquiry, and came to the conclusion that the house 
occupied the site of the buildings at present numbered 526, 528 and 530 
Market street, and on the strength of this report some years ago a 
bronze tablet was set on the wall of 528 Market street by the Sons of 
the Revolution, reciting that there stood the house in which both Wash- 
ington and Adams lived while each was President of the United States. 

It has been said that the present walls are the same that then 
sheltered the first two Presidents, but that the buildings were altered 
for business purposes. If the descriptions we have of the original and 
the sketch, made from memory by C. A. Poulson, are at all to be relied 
upon for veracity, the original building has been obliterated. This part 
of the block on the south side, between Fifth and Sixth streets, was owned 
by Chief Justice John Kinsey, as has already been related in an earlier 
chapter. Kinsey, who was known as the Quaker lawyer, bought the 
property from the Penns in 1738. Some time after his death in 1751 
the property was sold to John Lawrence, who was Mayor of the city 
in 1765. His daughter, Mary, married William Masters, who, as we 
have seen in a previous chapter, had had a desire to make Letitia Penn 
his bride, but was jilted by the daughter of the founder of Pennsyl- 

102 



Its Mkbchants and Its Stoky 103 

vania. In 1761 Lawrence and his wife conveyed to their daughter, Mary 
Masters, then a widow, a lot with 120 feet front on the south side of 
Market street and having a depth to the present Ludlow street of 180 
feet. On this property Mrs. Masters erected a fine dwelling. It is 
said to have had a front of 46 feet and a depth of 52 feet. It was a 
three-and-a-half story building built of brick. There is another view 
of this building in addition to the sketch by Poulson which does not 
quite agree with the latter and which may be said to be the more likely 
representation. 

In 1772 the daughter of Mrs. Masters, Mary Masters, said to have 
been at the time but sixteen years of age, was married to Richard Penn, 
then Governor of Pennsylvania. He was then a man of thirty-seven 
years. The marriage ceremony was performed in Christ Church, for 
both the Masters and the Penns appear to have left the Society of 
Friends. Two days before the marriage of Richard Penn and Miss 
Masters, Mrs. Masters conveyed to her daughter the property; and, 
although it has usually been alluded to as Richard Penn's house, in 
reality it was the property of his wife. Together with Arthur Lee, 
Richard Penn went to England in 1775 to convey a petition of the Con- 
tinental Congress to the King. It is related that upon being questioned 
concerning American affairs at the bar of the House of Commons, he 
irritated his questioners by substantiating all that Franklin had said. 
Lord Littleton remarked that throughout his examination he betrayed 
indications of the strongest prejudice. Richard Penn did not return 
again to Pennsylvania until 1808, when he was an old man, and then 
he only remained here about a year. 

During the British occupation of the city the house on Market 
street, being regai'ded as the finest mansion in the city, was taken by 
General Howe for his headquarters, and on its grounds a part of the 
15th Regiment was quartered. As soon as the British had evacuated 
the city General Benedict Arnold, who had been placed in charge of 
Philadelphia, entered the city and, being a person of luxurious tastes, 
found the mansion deserted by General Howe to meet his wants and 
so occupied it. Arnold immediately made himself even more objection- 
able to the people who remained in the city than had the British troops. 
He closed all the shops, so that his partners, James Mease and William 
West, could obtain supplies ostensibly for the public sei"vice and then 
dispose of the surplus and divide the profits. The secret agreement 
was not discovered for nearly a centuiy aftei*ward, and then all of 
Arnold's subsequent career became comprehensible. He was an ex- 
travagant man, fond of luxuries and always in urgent need of money; 
so when he was placed in command of the city and of all the military 
district east of Bristol and along the Delaware he took a mean advan- 
tage of his position to turn money into his personal coffers. It was 



104 Maeket Street, Philadelphia 

during this time that Arnold purchased Captain John MacPherson's 
place, Mount Pleasant, now in Fairmount Park. 

Arnold made a brave show while he was in command of the city. 
He had a coach and horses and coachmen in livery. He also was fond 
of military display and had sentinels placed before his Market street 
house although, as a writer in the Packet pointed out, this was unneces- 
sary, for the public enemy was not in the neighborhood and he had 
nothing to fear from Philadelphians, even if he did deserve rough treat- 
ment from them. In 1779 charges against Arnold's conduct here and 
at Valley Forge were laid before Congress; but despite his delicate 
position arrangements for his wedding with Peggy Shippen continued, 
and in April, just after he had purchased Mount Pleasant, the marriage 
was celebrated in the old Shippen mansion on South Fourth street, 
and for a part of the next fourteen months Arnold and his bride re- 
mained in this neighborhood, spending about half of the period in his 
Market street mansion. Arnold left the city forever about the middle 
of July, 1780, and then the mansion on Market street was occupied by 
the Sieur John Holker, consul general of France. Holker was an Eng- 
lislunan whose father had been exiled from England for the part he 
had taken in the effort to restore the pretender, Charles Edward, to 
the British throne. The younger Holker was educated in France, and 
through the influence of Franklin became an agent to furnish the 
Americans with supplies. He came to this country in 1776, and when 
the French Ambassador, Gerard, arrived here in 1778 he brought a 
commission to Holker as consul general of France. 

While it was in the possession of Holker the mansion was almost 
entirely destroyed by fire in January, 1780. There are references to 
this fire in the Diaries of Jacob Hilsheimer, who related that the house 
was all destroyed but the first floor, and of Elizabeth Drinker, who 
makes a note of the same character. Mrs. Drinker added in her diary 
that the fire raged through a violent snowstorm, which continued 
through the day and night of the 2d of January, 1780. 

Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution, leased the ruins and 
the property after the fire, and at once began to rebuild the house, 
whose solid walls remained. He also made some improvements in the 
property and after living there for several years he purchased the 
estate in 1785 for £3750. Li 1791 Morris had his counting house almost 
next to his property at what is now No. 510. This building still stands, 
although another story has been added to it and it has been materially 
modified in character. 

When it was decided that the capital of the country should be re- 
moved from New York to Philadelphia, the City Council began to look 
around them for a suitable residence for the President, and later the 
State of Pennsylvania started upon an important building at Ninth 









^ -^WW^ J s i;; ^ I if - 

IIP P I S K P "OL ■■ 



^^^^^~i3.,*»ViM,^ 



. iSi' 




.SUITHIOAST CORNER OF SIXTH AND JIARKKT STREETS, 1705 

In the house nt the left Wasbiuston and Adams resided while Presidents of the United 
States. Robert Morris lived in tlie corner building 




CHRISTIAN FEBIGER 

An officer in the Revolution and Treasurer 

of Pennsylvania 



Its Merchants and Its Stoky 105 

and Market streets, intending to place it at the disposal of the President, 
but that structure was not finished while Washington was in office. The 
dwelling of Robert Morris, one of the finest and most centralh^ located 
residences in the city, was offered for the purpose, and Washington 
was pleased to accept it as his executive mansion. The agreement was 
that Washington was to pay $3000 a year rent, which alone will give 
an idea of the character of the property. No other mansion in the city 
at the time commanded such a rental. 

From December, 1790, until March, 1797, Washington resided here, 
excepting for the intervals at Mt. Vernon, and the periods of the yellow 
fever epidemics^ when the President exiled himself from the city. For- 
tunately we have Washington's own description of the house as he 
found it. 

"The house of Robert Morris" (he wrote to Tobias Lear, his private 
secretary), "had, previous to my arrival, been talien by the corporation for 
my residence. It is the best they could get ; it is, I believe, the best single 
house in the city, yet without additions it is inadequate to the commodious 
accommodation of my family. These additions, I believe, will be made. 

"The first floor contains only two public rooms (except one for the upper 
servants) ; the second floor will have two public (drawing) rooms, and. with 
the aid of one room with a partition in it, the back room will be suflicient 
for the accommodation of Mrs. Washington and the children and their maids, 
besides affording her a small place for a private study and dressing room. 
The third story will furnish you and Mrs. Lear with a good lodging room, 
a public oflice — for there is no room below for one — and two rooms for the 
gentlemen of the family. 

"The garret has four rooms, which must serve Mr. and Mrs. Hyde, unless 
they should prefer the room over the workhouse (doubtless the washhouse 
in the plan ; Mr. Hyde was the butler) , also William and such seiwants. as 
it may not be better to place in the proposed additions to the back building. 
There is a room over the stable which may serve the coachman and postil- 
lions, and there is a smokehouse, which may possibly be more valuable for 
the use of the servants than the smoking of meats. 

"The intention of the addition to the back building is to provide a 
servants' hall and one or two lodging rooms for the servants. There are 
good stables, but for 12 horses only, and a coach house which will hold 
all my carriages. Speaking of carriages. I have left my coach to receive 
a thorough repair by the time I return, which I expect will be before the 
first of December." 

Everything was arranged and Washington, having returned to the 
city early in December, 1790, gave his first levee on Christmas Day, a 
function that was attended by the best society in Philadelphia, as well 
as by the Diplomatic Corps and officialdom generally. 

It would not be possible here to follow Washington's occupancy 
of the historic mansion on Market street, nor to attempt to recount the 
historic incidents occurring there; neither is it necessary to relate 
more of John Adams' occupancy of the house than to say that he ac- 
cepted the house as his executive mansion while he was President and 
the capital was in Philadelphia. While he was Vice-President Adams 
boarded at Francis' Hotel on Fourth street, for several years. Upon 
his inauguration he moved into the old mansion on Market street, which 



106 Market Street, Philadelphia 

had by that time passed out of the possession of Morris, the financier 
having sold it for $37,000 in 1795 to Andrew Kennedy. Adams re- 
mained a resident until the spring of 1800, when the capital was re- 
moved to Washington. 

John Francis, who had conducted a large boarding house on Fourth 
street, took the house as soon as Adams left, and opened it as Francis' 
Union Hotel. Several large banquets were held there during the two 
years Francis conducted the hotel. One of these was a subscription 
dinner given on March 4, 1801, in honor of the inauguration of President 
Jefferson. This dinner was given by the Republicans to commemorate 
their overwhelming defeat of the Federalists. In November, 1802, 
Governor McKean, who had been triumphantly re-elected Governor of 
Pennsylvania, was the guest of honor at a banquet held at Francis' 
Union Hotel. Francis' the next year went back to Fourth street, and 
the old house soon became tenanted by business firms. 

The old house was not removed until 1832, when the property 
once more changed hands, and the new owners demolished the building 
and erected three stores, which still stand. It is said that some of the 
old walls remain, but certainly the front has been entirely altered and 
rebuilt. 

After Morris had moved out of the mansion to make way for 
Washington, he went to the southeast corner of Sixth and Market 
streets to live. At the same time he had his counting house at 510 for 
a year or two, but in 1793 we find he had both home and counting house 
at the corner. The directory gives his address as 1 South Sixth street, 
and from Poulson's jjicture of the place it appears that he lived at the 
corner and had his office in a back building. The next year, and until 
1797, his office or counting house is given in the directories as 227 High 
street, which was on the site of the present 529, on the north side of 
Market street. Sometimes the residence addi-ess is given as 192 High 
street and sometimes as 1 South Sixth street, but evidently they were 
the same corner building. 

Morris spent the years 1797 and 1798 in the Debtor's Prison at 
Sixth and Locust streets, having become involved in the schemes of 
John Nicholson and James Greenleaf. His name does not appear in 
the directoiy for the year 1798, and the next year we find Morris living 
on Chestnut street, "near Seventh." Then for a few years he is found 
living on Walnut street above sixth, and in 1805 and 1806, in which year 
Morris died, he was living at 2 South Twelfth street. 

The dwelling at the southeast comer of Sixth and Market streets, 
in which Robert Morris lived for several years, and which he owned, 
was erected just prior to the Revolution by Joseph Galloway, the Tory 
lawyer and Speaker of the Assembly. Galloway became so closely 
identified with the British cause that when the King's troops left the 




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Its Merchants and Its Story 107 

city he found it convenient to follow them. His residence, having been 
confiscated by the State, seems to have been used as an executive man- 
sion for the President of the Supreme Executive Council of the State, 
which was the administrative body of the Commonwealth during the 
Revolution. Consequently we find Joseph Reed accredited to this cor- 
ner while he was President of Pennsylvania, from 1778 to 1781 ; then 
William Moore, as president, lived there until 1782, and he was followed 
by John Dickinson, who was President of Pennsylvania from 1782 until 
October, 1785. 

All of these executives were men of influence and eminence in 
their time. Dickinson, of course, has made his name historic by his 
"Letters of a Pennsylvania Fanner," which, written some years before 
the struggle for independence actually began, foreshadowed trouble if 
the British did not make any attempt to understand what the Americans 
desired and what they would not suffer. He also was the author of the 
first American patriotic song, which was written to the air of "Hearts 
of Oak," and had great vogue. Some recent historians of American 
music have referred to this song as an anonymous production and have 
accredited its first appearance to a Massachusetts newspaper. As a 
matter of fact, it not only was written by Dickinson, but it first ap- 
peared in Goddard's Pennsylvania Chronicle. It was afterward copied 
into newspapers throughout the colonies. 

Franklin was elected President of Pennsylvania in October, 1785, 
and as he had his own residence in Franklin's court he did not occupy 
the executive mansion, but remained at home. The difference in the 
two directories of Philadelphia, which were printed within a short time 
of each other in the fall of 1785, in their designation of the President 
of Pennsylvania, shows conclusively which of the directories was first 
issued. Collectors and others have claimed precedence for each of these 
books. But the fact, if nothing else was known, that MacPherson's 
directory prints John Dickinson's name as President, shows that it 
must have been issued before the election of October 18th of that year. 
White's directoiy prints Franklin's name as the head of the Supreme 
Executive Council, and consequently could not have been published 
until after the election, and, of course, subsequent to the directory of 
MacPherson. 

Before we leave tliis square we should not neglect to say a few 
words about another resident, Alexander Henry. Henry, who was a 
native of Ireland, came to this city when he was about twenty years of 
age, or in 1783. He entered as a clerk in a dry goods establishment 
and soon acquired a knowledge of the business, his abilities being so 
marked that within two months after his start here he found himself 
superintendent of a branch of the house, created for him. He started 
in business on his own account within a few years, and as an importer 



108 Mabket Street, Philadelphia 

of dry goods he soon made a fortune and retired while still a young man. 
The call of business, however, was too strong to be neglected and again 
he entered an active mercantile career, but finally retired in 1818 to 
devote himself to philanthropic and church work. 

He was the first President of the American Sunday School Union, 
was President of the Presbyterian Board of Education and of the House 
of Refuge. In 1801 he was a resident of 225, now 527, Market street, 
on the north side of the street. He was the grandfather of Alexander 
Henry, who was Mayor of Philadelphia during the Civil War. 



CHAPTER XIV 

SIXTH STREET TO SEVENTH SCHUYLKILL BANK JOHN WANAMAKEK 

DR. PRIESTLEY, ROBERT PINE AND CHARLES BIDDLE 

As soon as John Dickinson's term as President of the Supreme 
Executive Council expired in October, 1785, he left the house at the 
southeast corner of Sixth and Market streets and a new tenant moved 
in in the person of Robert Edge Pine, an English painter, who became 
so enthusiastic concerning the success of the Americans in their 
struggle for independence that he crossed the Atlantic especially with 
a view to paint historical pictures of events of the Revolution and to 
make portraits of the chief actors in that national drama. 

Pine, after having corresponded with John Vaughan and Samuel 
Vaughan, who were his friends, came to this country some time in the 
summer or fall of the year 1784. In November of that year an adver- 
tisement in the Pennsylvania Packet notes that at that time he was 
painting in the Congress chamber of the old State House, which had 
been placed at his disposal for his studies for his painting of "The 
Congress Voting Independence," a painting which, having been com- 
pleted by Edward Savage after Pine's death, is now in the collection 
of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The painting was discov- 
ered in Boston about twenty years ago by Charles Henry Hart, who has 
published virtually all that is known of the painter's career in this 
country. 

Pine seems to have been received with a great deal of attention 
upon his arrival in this city. He soon made the acquaintance of Robert 
Morris, whose portrait among those of other great Americans he 
painted at this time; and Morris, being the owner of the building at 
Sixth and Market streets, placed it at Pine's disposal as soon as Dick- 
inson moved out. This is shown by the same evidence that proves the 
anterior date of MacPherson's directory. Pine's name does not appear 
in MacPherson's directory for 1785, but in White's directoiy, which 
appeared a week later, the painter is set down as residing at the south- 
east corner of Sixth and Market streets. 

How long he remained there is not known. It is asserted by Mr. 
Hart that Morris erected or altered a building for Pine in which he 
could exhibit his paintings at 9 North Eighth street. By the time the 
directory of 1791 was published Pine had been dead for two years, but 
in it we find Mary Pine, living at 9 North Eighth street. Although it 

109 



110 Market Street, Philadelphia 

seems to be well established that Pine died here suddenly of apoplexy 
on November 19, 1788, it is not now known where his remains were in- 
terred. None of the records of burial grounds so far examined has 
thrown any light on the subject. 

Eobert Morris occupied the corner building at Sixth and Market 
streets as his residence from 1791 to 1795, in which year Robert Kid, 
at that time described as a perfumer, was dwelling there. In 1801 Kid 
is described in the directoiy as a copper merchant. After he left the 
corner the premises were taken over by the Schuylkill Bank, which 
institution was organized in 1814. 

The Schujdkill Bank had a short but exciting career in Philadelphia 
finance. Its early years, it is true, seem to have been commonplace 
enough, but its departure from the scene was as theatrical as anything 
in the nature of a looted bank ever has been. Chartered in 1814 for a 
period of ten years, in 1824 the bank charter was extended to 1837, 
when again it was further extended, but never ran its course. In 
December, 1838, its doors were closed by injunction on account of a 
suit that was begun against the institution by the Bank of Kentucky, 
which the Schuylkill Bank represented here as its agent. In 1838 it 
was decided to transfer this agency from the Schuylkill Bank to the 
Bank of the United States, and it was charged that during this transfer 
a large amount of fraudulent shares of the stock of the Bank of Ken- 
tucky had been transferred in place of good stock. The Bank of Ken- 
tucky brought suit against its agent, and the Schuylkill Bank replied 
that it was not responsible, but its cashier and another subordinate 
employe were. This answer did not satisfy the Court and the Schuyl- 
kill Bank was closed while the suit was thrashed out in the courts. 

At the same time the cashier, Hosea J. Levis, was charged with the 
fraud, and, although convicted, he went to Europe. He aftenvard re- 
turned to this country, but never was prosecuted further. The courts 
sustained the complaint of the Bank of Kentucky, and in paying the 
amount necessary to settle the claim all the funds of the Schuylkill 
Bank were used. Depositors and stockholders found there was nothing 
left. The case was in the courts for a long period, but in 1840 the bank 
finally wound up its affairs. 

Some years after the Schuj^lkill Bank went out of business the 
building was replaced by a store property six stories in height, and on 
account of its height, probably at the time the only six-story store struc- 
ture in the city, it was called McNeill's Folly, after the name of its 
owner. 

In 1861 the property, or at least a small part of it, was taken over 
by a new firm of young men, John Wanamaker and Nathan Brown. 
They opened the place as a clothing store they called Oak Hall, and 
immediately began to make Philadelphia know they were in business 




WHERE JOIIX WAXA.MAKER BEGAN BUSINESS 



This pictiirp is from an advertisement on 
the covei- of the diieitory for Isuri. and sliows 
"Oak irnll" as ir tlicn ainiearetl. 



Its Merchants and Its Story 111 

by taking all the money that came in the first day, with the exception 
of 67 cents, and laying it out in advertising the next morning. The 
new firm believed in advertising, for its senior member, Mr. Wana- 
maker, had seen the fruits of it in Colonel Bennett's Tower Hall, which 
was in the same block. But while Colonel Bennett held to one style 
of making his place known and said very little about his goods that 
inspired interest in his wares, the young firm began to say things about 
their clothing that was different. A\niile Colonel Bennett called out in 
verse, Wanamaker & Brown stuck to prose, but never let their adver- 
tisements become prosy. 

The new firm began to have policies which they did not hide under 
a bushel. Others may have had some of the same policies, but eveiy- 
body did not know it, and Wanamaker & Brown did not want anyone 
to simply take them for granted; they told them. The City Directory 
for 1865 found the new firm's advertisement at the top of every page. 
Other advertisers had in a dilatory sort of way taken bottoms of the 
pages, and then only about half of them, but the new firm placed their 
advertisement on every page and at the top where no one could consult 
the book without seeing it. On the cover they had a picture of their 
building, and altogether they showed more enterprise than any of the 
older houses in the city. 

The original building not only was added to in 1866, but a new 
iron front was erected on Market street and the adjoining buildings 
along Sixth street to Minor, now Ludlow street, were combined in the 
new structure. From $80,000 a year, the business done the first year, 
the sales had in the first five years increased to $500,000 annually, and 
it was this enormous increase that compelled the extension of the store. 
Indeed, two years after the opening of the store it was fomid necessary 
to add two adjoining properties on Sixth street, but in less than three 
years later the business had outgrown even these. 

In 1785 Market street on both sides, between Sixth and Seventh, 
was fairly well built up. There were a few vacant lots on both sides, 
but the general character of the square was that of a well-built block. 
On the north side, the fifth house on the site of the present 609, lived 
Captain Budden, who may have been a son of that other Captain 
Budden, whose place in local history is connected with the State House 
bell and the chimes for Christ Church. These he is said to have brought 
over on his ship. The Liberty Bell arrived in 1753 and the following 
year Captain Budden brought over the chimes for Christ Church. It 
is said that he refused to be paid for carrying the chimes, and as a 
mark of gratitude thereafter it was for years customary to ring the 
chimes whenever Captain Bvidden's ship came into port. 

On the south side of Market street in this square, in 1785, John 
Dunlap, the printer and publisher, lived in a house that stood on the 



112 Market Street, Philadelphia 

site of the present 638. In the same hloek at this time lived at about 
the present 612 David Kennedy, Secretary of the Land Tax, and next 
to the corner at Sixth, at 602, dwelt Israel Whelen, mei'chant and 
financier, whom we have already mentioned. 

At the west corner of what used to be Decatur street and now is 
called Marshall street stood, until a few years ago, the old mansion of 
William Turner, gentleman. This old house was standing as far back 
as 1785 and probably dated from the close of the Revolution. 

In 1795 Baltzer Clymer, a carter, had his stables and house in this 
thoroughfare, then known as Clymer 's alley, but whether it derived its 
name from this carter or from George Clymer, the merchant and signer 
of the Declaration of Independence who had his place of business across 
the street on the north side, camiot be learned. 

Some time between 1785 and 1791 Charles Biddle, who was the 
father of Nicholas Biddle, afterward President of the Second Bank of 
the United States, moved into the dwelling at what now would be 611 
Market street. Charles Biddle was one of the remarkable men of his 
time in Philadelphia. He led an adventurous life from his youth, and 
he left a most entertaining autobiography, which was privately printed 
in 1883. Biddle went to sea when he was a lad, and, indeed, having 
devoured the interesting pages of "Roderick Random," was inclined 
to a seafaring life. He was an experienced mariner, and when he be- 
came a man rose to be the commander of a vessel. The whole Spanish 
Main was as familiar to him as Market street. He was a friend of 
Graydon, the memoir writer, and was known to everybody in the city 
worth the knowing. He was present in the State House yard on July 
8, 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was read for the first 
time in public, and has left one of the four contemporary accounts of 
that historic event. 

He was elected vice-president of the Supreme Executive Council 
of Pennsylvania and retained that office until the Constitution of 1790 
made a change in the government of the Commonwealth. He then be- 
came Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas, although this office 
was so long on the way getting to him that he was contemplating taking 
a ship and once again turning to the sea. 

It was to Charles Riddle's home, then on Chestnut street near 
Fourth, that Aaron Burr came after his fatal duel with Alexander 
Hamilton in 1804. Biddle was friendly to Burr and did not believe 
all the partisan newspapers of the period were printing about that 
misunderstood man. It is not possible here to do justice to a career 
so romantic and so filled with incident as that of Charles Biddle, but 
the reader who is fortunate enough to possess his autobiography will 
find that memoirs of a man who has taken a real part in the world is 
very lively and entertaining reading. 




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Its Merchants and Its Story 113 

Charles Biddle, who was born in 1745, lived to a good old age, dying 
in 1821. Next door to him on Market street lived his eldest brother, 
James Biddle, who was a lawyer, a member of the Philadelphia Bar, 
but who for some years was a practicing attorney in Berks, Lancaster 
and Northampton Counties. He was appointed Prothonotary of the 
Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia in 1788, and in 1791 was ap- 
l^ointed President Judge of the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania. 
It was upon his retirement from the office of Prothonotary that Gov- 
ernor Mifflin appointed Charles Biddle to the vacancy, although the 
latter was not a lawy^er and admitted that he knew nothing of the work- 
ings of the office. James Biddle died in 1797. 

In recalling James Biddle it is interesting to include mention of 
the fact that he was a vestryman of Christ Church and was present at 
the meeting on July 4, 1776, when it was resolved to "omit those peti- 
tions in the Liturgj^ wherein the King of Great Britain is prayed for." 

At that time the Declaration had not been adopted, but it was the 
general impression that Congress would make such a declaration. 

On the south side of Market street, in the same square, in 1791 we 
find that at what now would be numbered 614 Francis "White, broker, 
had his office. White's claim to attention here arises from the fact 
that he printed a directory of the city in 1785. The idea was evidently 
not original with him, but was founded upon the knowledge that Captain 
John MacPherson was bringing out such a guide. MacPherson's book 
appeared about a week before "V\niite's and was the first directory pub- 
lished in this country and probably before a regular reference book of 
the kind had appeared anywhere else. 

On the site of 606, in 1791, Michael Hay kept an inn, with the 
sign of The Thistle hanging in front of the place. He was a brother 
of Peter Hay, who lived to be ninety-one years of age, and was probably 
best remembered here as Alderman Hay. Peter Hay was an officer 
in the War of 1812, and for years was the editor of the American 
Sentinel, a daily, that originally, when first issued in 1811, was pub- 
lished twice a week. Hay was the editor of the paper from the begin- 
ning and until near the time when it was merged with the Evening 
Bulletin in 1847. 

Michael Hay, with another brother, John, emigrated to the West 
about 1793 and settled in Ohio. The late Secretary of State John Hay 
was a descendant of Michael Hay's brother John. In 1795 The 
Thistle was kept by George Strayle and in the early part of the last 
century the inn was known as the Red Lion and in 1850 it was kept 
by J. C. Wister. It is probable that this was the same inn that was 
known as the Blue Ball in 1785. 

In the same square, occupying the properties now nimibered 624 
and 626, stood the Farmers' Hotel in 1850, when it was managed by 



114 Maeket Street, Philadelphia 

S. M. Ramsey & Co. This house was kept by George Weed in 1795, 
and in 1801 by Jacob Tomlinson. Both of these old inns passed away 
about fifty years ago. 

Next to The Thistle, in 1795, at what would now be 604, lived 
Samuel A. Ottis, secretary of the United State Senate. At the south- 
east corner of Seventh and Market streets in 1801 David Kennedy, a 
carv^er and gilder, had his place. Later in the century Kennedy was 
associated with another under the firm-name of Kennedy & Lucas, and 
they kept what was called a looking-glass store, where mirrors, picture 
frames and pictures were sold. Kennedy and Lucas opened the first 
lithographic establishment in Philadelphia in 1828. It was from their 
place that the original lithographic plates for Watson's "Annals of 
Philadelphia" were made. They also made a few other lithographs, 
but within a short tune appear to have sold out to Col. Cejihas G. Childs. 

Next to the corner, in 1795, lived Daniel Brodhead, Surveyor-Gen- 
eral of Pennsylvania from 1789 to 1800. 

On the north side of Market street, between Sixth and Seventh 
streets. Dr. John Priestley dwelt during the few months he resided in 
Philadelphia, but there is no clue to the exact situation of his house. 
The nearest thing to placing it is to be found in a passage of Twining 's 
"Travels." Describing a visit to the Doctor in 1796, Thomas Twining 
wrote in his journal : 

Proceeded to Doctor Priestley's house in the upper end of High street, 
in a row of small houses between Sixth and Seventh streets, remarkable 
for their pleasant appearance, standiuf; back a few yards from the footpath, 
painted rails before them. I had not seen such an appearance of neatness 
and comfort since my arrival in Philadelphia, and experienced pleasure in 
finding that it was here that the English pliilosopher, the benefactor of 
his country and of mankind by his discoveries in useful science, had taken 
up his abode. 

Having passed through the garden of one of the houses, the door was 
opened by a female servant, who, saying that the Doctor was at home, con- 
ducted us into a small room by the side of the passage, looking toward the 
street. Here I expected to find the Doctor, but found only his sister, who 
desired the maid to let her master know that Doctor Ross (his companion) 
was come. 

Priestley, after coming to this country in 1794, stayed for a short 

time in New York. Later he came to Philadelphia, but his residence 

here was less than a year, and he managed in that time to escape being 

listed in the directories. Consequently we have no means of locating 

the site of his dwelling. The Doctor had suffered considerably through 

his liberalism in England. His meeting house in Birmingham was 

burned by a mob which also destroyed his dwelling and his library. 

He was virtually driven out of England and came to this country to 

find an asylum. He was a scientist as well as a pliilosopher, and the 

founder of Unitarianism in this country. He is mainly distinguished, 

however, by his discovery of oxygen. He went to Northumberland, Pa., 

and remained there until his death. 



Its Merchants and Its Story 115 

His brief residence in Philadelphia may be said to have been little 
more than a long visit, for he spent the greatest part of his American 
career in Northumberland. As there was a widow, Mrs. Susannah 
Stanley, who kept a boarding house in this square at the time of Priest- 
ley's visit in 1796, it is possible that Twining is not to be taken literally 
when he speaks of Dr. Priestley's house. It may refer to the place 
where he boarded quite as well as to a house rented by him. If this 
surmise is correct, Dr. Priestley lived on the site of the present 607 
Market street, for that was the site of Mrs. Stanley's boarding house. 
Later on we find Mrs. Stanley, who had moved to the site of 603, rented 
offices to Joseph Reed and Thomas B. Zantzinger, who were prominent 
lawyers and men of influence in the city and state. 

This Joseph Reed is not so well remembered by histoiy as either 
his father. General Reed, who, in addition to holding many positions, 
was for three years during the Revolution President of the Supreme 
Executive Council of the State, or his own son, William B. Reed, a 
lawyer of eminence, whose defense of his grandfather's good name 
against the errors of Bancroft, the historian, may be recalled. Yet 
Joseph Reed, who had an office in Mrs. Stanley's house on Market street 
in 1801, was a lawyer of considerable reputation in his time. He was 
a graduate of Princeton, and from 1800 to 1809 was Prothonotary of 
the Supreme Court of the State and in 1810 was Attorney-General of 
the State. From 1810 until 1829 he was Recorder of Philadelphia, an 
office that was abolished forty-five years ago. 

In the fourth house from Seventh, on the north side of Market 
street, dwelt, in 1791, and until his death in 1796, Christian Febiger, 
one of the most remarkable men connected with the American armies 
during the Revolution. Of probably no other soldier in that struggle 
could it be said — or if of any, they were not numei'ous — that he had 
been present at nearly all the imjiortant engagements, from Bunker Hill 
to the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. Yet this was nothing but 
a part of the history of Febiger, who at the time he resided on Market 
street was Treasurer of Pennsylvania. 

He was a native of Denmark and after holding a subaltern's com- 
mission in the Danish amiy, came to America when his father was 
appointed Governor of Santa Cruz, and went to Boston, where he en- 
gaged in trading between that port and the West Indies. He was in 
this trade when the Revolution broke. When he learned the news from 
Lexington he sold his ship and offered his services to the Committee 
of Safety in Boston. He was commissioned lieutenant and took a 
distinguished part in the Battle of Bunker Hill. 

Although he was a young man at the time, he had received training 
in the military art and was reputed to have been an excellent engineer. 
His gallantry in action and his experience and training obtained for 



116 Market Street, Philadelphia 

him a reputation at Bunker Hill as the gallant Danish soldier. Subse- 
quently he joined the force under Arnold that with Montgomery made 
the attempt upon Canada with such distressing results. He was at 
Stony Point, too, and it was Colonel Febiger who took Colonel Johnson, 
who commanded Stony Point, prisoner. He was in command of the force 
that covered the retreat of the American Army through New Jersey. 
At the battles of Brandywine, Trenton and Monmouth he was under fire 
and was with the army during that fateful winter at Valley Forge. 

Yet many well-informed persons never have heard of Febiger. He 
was highly regarded by his associates, and Congress brevetted him 
Brigadier-General, but he declared that in this countiy the title of 
Colonel was more than in keeping with a man who was engaged in 
trade and he never used his higher title. He was the auctioneer for 
the Northern Liberties, and finally Treasurer of Pennsylvania. From 
1792 until 1794, when he resigned on account of failing health, he was 
Captain of the First City Troop, having been the fourth commander 
that organization had. 

The original lots on the north side of Market street, from Sixth 
to Seventh, extended half-way to Arch, or Mulberry street, as it 
was then known. About the middle of the eighteenth century a narrow 
street, first called Sugar alley, then Farmer's alley, in recognition of 
Richard Fanner, who owned much of the Market street property that 
bounded it on the south, was cut through. Latterly this avenue, which 
boasts of a breadth of fourteen feet, has been known as Filbert street. 
It was on the north side of Sugar alley, on property which had a front 
on Seventh street, that the first buildings for the first United States 
Mint were erected in 1792. The mint proper, or coinage house, at 
that time was really built on the back i^art of the Seventh street lots, 
37 and 39 North Seventh street. But a narrow proi^erty on Sugar alley 
adjoining was also part of the site. 

In those days the United States Mint was a rather modest estab- 
lishment. This may be imagined when it is known that Congress had 
proudly enacted two months before property for a mint had been 
bought, that after a sum of not less than fifty thousand dollars had 
been coined in cents and half cents, and had been paid into the Treasury, 
no other copper coins should pass as currency. It was not until Jan- 
uary, 1800, that Elias Boudinot, the then Director of the Mint, reported 
that there had been coined and paid into the Treasury fifty thousand 
one hundred and eleven dollars and forty-two cents, in cents. 

The Mint was so small and evidently so uninteresting to the Phila- 
delphians that map makers of 1800 who indicated public buildings on 
their plans of the city did not think it worth while to show the location 
of the only currency factory in the country. Yet the value of the 
Mint and its necessity was so clearly comprehended and appreciated 



Its Merchants and Its Story 117 

by the country's leaders, including President Washington while he was 
in office, that the best-fitted scientist in America, David Rittenhouse, 
was selected as first Director of that department of the Federal 
Government. Rittenhouse resided at the northwest corner of Seventh 
and Arch streets, and as he received his appointment some weeks be- 
fore the properties were purchased, it is not unlikely that he suggested 
the site for the buildings, and the day after the transfer was made 
work on constraction followed. A distillery owned by Michael Shubert 
had occupied the Sugar alley (or Filbert street) lot a few years before, 
and this was immediately removed. In another month the frame work 
of the Mint was up. 

For forty years this small plant made all the coinage of the 
United States. Within a few years after the coinage house was 
erected, other buildings were built for the Mint offices on the front of 
the Seventh street lots. The properties were bought by the Frank H. 
Stewart Electric Company about ten years ago. On the site a fine 
building of modern type has replaced the gray, plastered walls of the 
old Mint. Mr. Stewart, who has been most industrious in his re- 
searches, gathered into a valuable pamphlet a comprehensive brief 
of title to the properties, extending back to 1699, the time William 
Penn deeded them to the Pennsylvania Land Company for £2000. They 
were part of ' ' Six inland city lots, lying between the two rivers. ' ' For 
the two lots the Government paid four thousand two hundred and sixty- 
six and two-thirds dollars, subject to yearly ground rent of twenty-one 
Spanish pieces of eight. 

Nearly all of the United States coins valued so highly for their 
rarity by numismatists were made in this Mint. One of the rarest, of 
course, is the 1804 dollar. The first regular coinage of copper was 
begun in 1793; silver coinage was started in 1794, and the minting of 
gold in 1795. Trial or experimental pieces were coined before these 
dates. The first actual coins were the Washington silver "dismes" 
and "half dismes" in 1792. They take their name from the fact that 
Washington, who took a great interest in the Mint, furnished the silver 
bullion for them. Owing to the hardness of the copper obtained for 
coinage of cents, the dies constantly cracked or got out of repair and 
to this reason is due the great variety of cents of the same year date, 
particularly that of 1794. 



CHAPTER XV 

SEVENTH AND MAEKET STREETS, WHERE JEFFERSON WROTE THE 
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence in a 
house that formerly stood at the southwest corner of Seventh and 
Market streets, and that fact itself should make the block from Seventh 
sti-eet to Eighth one of the most historic squares in the city. It would 
be no straining for effect to assert, in view of the almost universal 
acceptance of the philosophy and principles contained in that great 
paper, that in time to come the site will be regarded as the most his- 
toric in the world. No manifesto ever issued by a people has had the 
far-reaching effects of the Declaration adopted in Philadelphia by the 
Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. Although nearly a centuiy and 
a half have elapsed since that time, the democratic dogma pronounced 
in that document continues bearing fruit, and now the only remaining 
autocracies on earth are in their death struggles. 

The author of the Declaration, who had been born at Shadwell, 
Virginia, in 1743, at the time of writing that paper was in his thirty- 
fourth year. That so young a man should have been selected out of 
so incomparable an assemblage of able men, including one so eminent 
as Franklin, to compose a state paper which could not fail to attract 
the attention of the world, is not inexplicable. It was Jefferson who 
wrote the "Instructions to Delegates" at the Virginia Convention, al- 
though illness prevented him from appearing in that assemblage. In 
no uncertain tones these instructions declare that such allegiance as 
the Colonists showed to the King of England was in the nature of a 
natural right of choice and not based on any principle of the British 
Constitution or because the colonists emigrated from Great Britain. 
Nearly all the important papers and resolutions adopted by the Vir- 
ginia House of Burgesses and other political assemblies in that colony 
during this period will be found to have been from the pen of Jefferson. 

He was, beyond all doubt, the most widely-read man in the Con- 
tinental Congress. He came to Philadelphia with the reputation of a 
writer of state papers that had the right thought and more — papers 
that were brilliant with ringing sentences. Jefferson daily read in 
Greek, Latin, French and Italian, as well as in English, the works of 
the greatest philosophers, historians and commentators. This circum- 
stance accounts for the presence in the Declaration of one of the most 

118 



Its Merchants and Its Stoky 119 

lingering phrases that has been incoii^orated in any of our state papers. 
Who does not recall the phrase: "These colonies are, and of right, 
ought to be, free and independent States."! Professor Dunning, of 
Columbia University, some years ago began a hunt to establish its 
genealogy and managed to trace it back to the time of Pope Boniface 
VIII, whom he found, writing to Philip the Fair, of France, about 
1300, that the French lied when they, in their pride, said they had no 
superior, ' ' for of right they were and ought to be subject to the Roman 
King and the Emperor." Dr. James Sullivan in his study of "The 
Antecedents of the Declaration of Independence," has shown that three 
of the ideas in that historic document were known to the world by 
Cicero's time (106-43 B. C). "These were," he states, "first, the 
conscious instituting of government by men, held by Protagoras, the 
Sophists, and the Epicureans ; second, the equality of men — an idea 
advanced by the Stoics ; and third, the idea of natural rights developed 
by Cicero." But it was in the Declaration written by Jefferson that 
these ideas were first combined. 

Virginia favored independence and Jefferson not only understood 
the sentiments of his people, but he had given them form in words, 
and there is perhaps good reason to believe that he was sent to Con- 
gress by Virginia for the purpose of composing the paper which it 
was inevitable should be demanded. 

He arrived in Philadelphia for the first time on June 20, 1775, 
and took lodgings with Benjamin Randolph, a cabinet maker, who prob- 
ably was related to him, and whose place of business was in Chestnut 
street, between Third and Fourth. He stopped with Randolph when 
he came to the city again, and usually took his meals at the City Tavern, 
in Second street, north of Walnut. Randolph was one of the original 
members of the First Troop of Philadelphia City Cavalry, and served 
with that command during 1776. He was made an honorary member 
of the organization the following year and thenceforth di'ops fi-om 
sight, so far as records of his subsequent career are concerned. How- 
ever, he is a historic personage, for he made the desk upon which Jef- 
ferson wrote the Declaration. He did not design the piece of furniture, 
but fabricated it from drawings made by Jefferson. 

Within less than a week after Jefferson had taken his seat in Con- 
gress he was placed on the Committee to draw up a declaration of 
the causes for taking up anns. At the same time John Dickinson, of 
Pennsylvania, was added to the Committee. Dickinson for some years 
prior to the actual outbreak of hostilities had written the important 
resolutions and other state papers adopted by the Revolutionary bodies 
here. He still clung to the hope that justice might be done the Colonies 
and that a happy reconciliation would follow. Consequently the strong, 
defiant attitude assumed in the draft of the declaration submitted by 



120 Market Street, Philadelphia 

Jefferson did not meet with Dickinson's approval, for no conservative, 
such as the Pennsylvanian was, would relish the clear-cut, decisive 
phrases of the young Virginian. Dickinson was asked by the Com- 
mittee to change the draft to suit his views, and he did so, drawing all 
its teeth, and writing what virtually was a new statement save for 
the concluding paragraphs. The Committee reported it to Congress 
and it was accepted. 

When, on July 22, 1775, Congress appointed a committee to con- 
sider and report on Lord North's "Conciliatory Proposition," Jef- 
ferson was selected by ballot as one of its members, aud his colleagues, 
who were Franklin, John Adams and Richard H. Lee, asked Jefferson 
to prepare the report. 

That Jefferson was the author of the Resolutions presented to 
Congress on June 7, 1776, which called for a specific Declaration of 
Independence seems to be not merely plausible but quite probable. 
These Resolutions were presented by Richard H. Lee, but they had 
been a part of the instructions to the Virginia delegates adopted by 
the Virginia Convention of May 15th. When Congress resolved, on 
June 11th, that a Committee to prepare a Declaration of Independence 
should consist of five members. These as usual were selected by ballot 
and Jefferson's name stood at the head of the Committee, the other 
members selected being John Adams, Franklin, Roger Shei-man and 
Robert R. Livingston. Jefferson's colleagues, knowing his facility of 
expression and his reputation for literature and science, selected him 
to draft the paper. 

Jefferson arrived in Philadelphia again on May 15, 1776, and after 
spending eight days at Randolph's on May 23d, as appears by his 
account book, he "took lodgings at Graaf's," Seventh and Market 
streets. From the same source we learn that he paid a weekly rent 
of thirty-five shillings. He continued to dine at the City Tavern. It is 
inspiring to picture the scenes in the large second-story front apart- 
ment which Jefferson used as his sitting room, when the other members 
of the committee on reducing the sentiments of Lee's resolution into 
a declaration, gathered together in the young Virginian's quarters, and 
discussed with him what should and what should not go into the paper 
which was to have an effect that has not yet ceased re-echoing through- 
out the world. 

There is very little in the way of authentic facts to guide one in 
reconstructing one of the meetings of the committee, but there is a 
well-known picture by Chapell, which, while naturally lacking authority, 
still answers the desire to see this group of men holding a conference 
over our greatest state paper. 

Unfortunately, for the great part, the men engaged in gaining lib- 
erty for the American States did not keep any accurate record of their 




AutlKii- 



TIin^rAS .TKFFIOItSOX 

if llic I lei-laratiiin o( Iiulepeiuleiice 




AllVKltTISIXG CAUL) OF ItlOXJAMlX KAMiOLl'II. AUOLT ITOS 



It was in nandolph's house that Thomas Jefferson first 
lodtted in I'hilartelphia, and its owner constructed tlie desk 
upon which the Declaration of Independence was written. 



Its Merchants and Its Story 121 

doings while they attended the Continental Congress in those stormy 
days. They Avere intent upon the serious purpose for which they were 
assembled, and did not seem to realize that they were making the kind 
of history that future generations wanted to see illustrated. No official 
action or meeting of theirs in those days is insignificant to the students 
of history in these. 

Even Jefferson seems to have told different persons that he wrote 
the Declaration in at least two widely separated houses in Philadelphia. 
It is possible that he was misunderstood, but the fact remains that until 
about the time of the Centennial there was some dispute about the 
exact location of Jefferson's lodgings in June, 1776. It has been as- 
serted that he wrote his most famous paper in the old Indian Queen 
Hotel, at Fourth and Market streets; a house on Chestnut street near 
Fourth (Randolph's) also was said to have been the place; and while 
the building that stood on the site of the Penn National Bank, at 
Seventh and Market streets, until 1883, was finally known to have been 
the correct location, there were claims made for a small building in 
the rear that was not erected until more than twenty years after the 
Declaration was adopted. 

At the time Jefferson lodged at Seventh and Market streets the 
building, then a new one, was three and a half stories in height. The 
map of 1762 shows a building on the plot, but in 1775, when the comer 
was purchased from Dr. E. Physick by J. Graff, Jr., the latter erected 
a dwelling there. This house in 1776 is said to have been occupied by 
Mrs. Clymer, a name associated with that vicinity, although Jefferson 
has written that the owner of the house was the proprietor of his lodg- 
ings. The delegate from Virginia occupied the whole second floor. 
The back room was Jefferson's bedroom, and the apartment that opened 
upon Market street was his study or sitting room. In this latter 
chamber he wrote the drafts of the Declaration, and there, also, it is 
believed the other members of the committee met him in conference at 
various times. 

Less than a year before Jefferson's death. Dr. James Mease, a local 
antiquary and historian, wrote to the ex-Pi-esident and asked him for 
a statement locating the house in which he dwelt in June, 1776. The 
venerable sage of Mouticello wrote in rej^ly : 

Montlcello, Sept. 16, 1825. 
Dear Sir : — It is not for me to estimate tiae Importance of the circum- 
stances concerning which your letter of the Sth makes Inquiry- They prove, 
even in their minuteness, the sacred attachments of our fellow-citizens to 
the event of which the paper of July 4. 1776. was but the Declaration, the 
genuine effusion of the soul of our country at the time. Small things may, 
perhaps, like the relies of saints, help to nourish our devotion to this holy 
bond of our union and keep it longer alive and warm in our affections. This 
effect may give importance to circumstances, however small. At the time 
of writing that instrument I lodged in the house of a Mr. Gratz (Graff), a 



122 Mabket Street, Philadelphia 

new brick house, three stories high, of whicli I rented the second floor, con- 
sisting of a parlor and bedroom ready furnished. In tliat parlor I wrote 
habitually, and in it wrote that [laper particularly. 

So far, I state from written proof in my possession : The proprietor. Gratz 
(Graff), was a young man, son of a German, and then newly married. I 
think he was a bricklayer, and that his house was on the south side of Market 
street, probably between 7th and 8th streets, and if not the only house on 
that part of the street, I am sure there were few others near it. I have 
some idea that it was a corner house, but no other recollections throwing 
any light on the question, or worth communication. I will therefore, only 
add assurances of my great respect and esteem. 

TH. JEFFERSON. 

The owner of the property, Mr. Graff, was the father of Frederick 
Grraff, later the engineer of the Fairmount Water Works, and whose 
monument may be seen in the gardens now in front of the Aquarium 
in Fairmount Park. 

Until the early years of the last century the entrance to this build- 
ing was on Seventh street, and it was then numbered 2. In 1795 the 
house was occupied by Thomas Hiltzheimer, son of the diarist, and it 
was the younger Hiltzheimer who, about 1796, erected the adjoining 
building on Market street, later numbered 702. About the same time 
Hiltzheimer erected a four-story building adjoining the corner struc- 
ture on Seventh street. Jacob Hiltzheimer, whose diary is a mine of 
information, in 1795 dwelt across the street, at 1 South Seventh street, 
which was next to the corner. 

In 1798, or about that year, the properties came into the possession 
of Simon and Hyman Gratz, about whom we have had something to 
say when we were considering Market street at Fourth. The Gratz 
Brothers altered the premises into a building suitable for their business. 
They added a fourth story, which was continued over the two prop- 
erties, on Market street, and walled up the original entrance on Seventh 
street to the corner house. From that time until the group was de- 
molished in 1883 to make room for the Penn National Bank, the build- 
ings were used for commercial purposes. 

When the Penn National Bank placed the bronze tablet in the wall 
of its building, at Seventh and Market streets, in 1884, to mark the site 
of the house where Jefferson lived and wrote the Declaration, the de- 
signer of the tablet either was unaware or neglected the fact that in the 
same building another noted man whose name is inseparably linked with 
the Declaration, either lived or had his office, probably he used it for both 
purposes. This was James Wilson, a sigiier of that great paper, who, 
in 1791, when he was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme 
Court, was set down in the directory as having his house at 230 Market 
street. That was the old number for the corner house. 

Wilson, whose remains were brought back to Philadelphia with 
ceremony on November 22, 1906, and deposited in a vault in Christ 
Churchyard, not only was one of the signers of that certificate of the 




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Its Merchants and Its Story 123 

nation's birth, but he was an active member of the conventions which 
brought forth the Constitution of the United States and the Constitu- 
tion of Pennsylvania. Washington appointed him to the Supreme 
Court and he remained on the bench of that highest tribunal in this 
country until his death in 1798. Contemporaries have left several illum- 
inating pictures of Judge Wilson, and while they have credited him 
with having been one of the great leaders of the Philadelphia Bar, they 
have not spoken so highly of him as a Justice of the Supreme Court. 
William Rawle, himself a great leader of the local bar a hundred years 
ago, in an address before the Associated Members of the Philadelphia 
Bar, in 1823, said, referring to Wilson: "It must, however, be con- 
fessed that Mr. Wilson on the bench was not equal to Mr. AYilson at the 
bar, nor did his law lectures entirely meet the exi>ectation that had 
been formed." 

In 1795 we find John Eichards, a merchant, dwelling at 230, and 
in 1801 he had been succeeded in the same location by another mer- 
chant, Jacob Cox. Although the Gratzes owned the properties on the 
original lot they occupied with their place of business, the building 
next to Seventh, then numbered 232, and later 702. Just before the 
buildings were demolished, in 1883, this building was tenanted by 
Jordan Brothers, dealers in old books, whose dramatic career had not 
begun at this time. About five years ago the last members of this finn 
died. Their business card on Market street contained the assertion 
that it was in their building that Jefferson dwelt in 1776, which, of 
course, was erroneous. 



CHAPTER XVI 

SEVENTH STREET TO EIGHTH GOVERNOR MIFFLIN RAWLE GENERAL 

CADWALADER THE PEROTS EARLY POTTERIES 

Thomas Jefferson, in the letter quoted in the previous chapter, 
states that in 1776 Graff's house, where he had his lodgings, was not 
only isolated, but that he believed there were few other buildings in the 
same square. MacPhersou's directory for 1785 mentions six residents 
of the square on the south side and notes that there were two other 
houses empty, while on the north side of the street, between Seventh 
and Eighth, but three residents were named. As these are so few in 
number, it may be of interest to give the names of persons living on 
both sides of Market street in that square in 1785. 

On the south side, at what would be 706, Richard Rundle dwelt; 
at 708 (these numbers are the present ones of the sites), Jacob Carter; 
710 and 712 are returned as "empty;" 716, Rebecca Shoemaker; 718, 
Benjamin Shoemaker ; 722, Christopher Boyer, and 724, John Brayfield. 
The corner of Seventh street at that time was numbered on Seventh 
street, as the entrance was on that thoroughfare. On the north side 
of the street the residents were the Widow (Rachael) McCulloch, at 
701; Thomas Murgatroyd, at 705, and Jeffry Garret, at 711. The 
Widow McCulloch resided in the house at the northwest corner of 
Seventh and Market streets, which building fronted on the latter thor- 
oughfare. This structure was only torn down a few years ago to make 
way for the extension of Lit Brothers' store. Thirty years ago there 
was a printing shop in the second floor and the rest of the building 
was rented for various light manufacturing businesses. 

There were half a dozen distinguished men who resided in this 
square during the last decade of the eighteenth centuiy. At least some 
of them had offices here if they did not actually reside in the buildings, 
although it is probable that the addresses given in the early directories 
as being on Market street were the addresses of their winter homes 
as well as their offices. 

In the house numbered 248 in 1791, and on the site of 718, Governor 
Thomas Mifflin dwelt. This was his home, and after he left it a few 
years later it became, in 1801, the home of General Thomas Cadwalader, 
attorney-at-law, who had not yet taken the Boudinot mansion at Ninth 
and Arch streets. 

Governor Mifflin was another of the examples of QuaB.ers who were 

124 




'-' . .7 \^^^u *'~^' 






Its Merchants and Its Story 125 

of the greatest service to the patriots during the Revolution. While 
the Society of Friends did not approve of war, and while it did feel it 
incumbent upon the sect to drop such members as took up arms, never- 
theless the Quakers probably were secretly grateful subsequently that 
some of these young men had cut themselves loose from meeting and 
had fought in defense of the liberties of their country. 

Thomas Mifllin was one of the first to hear the news from Lexing- 
ton. It was he who addressed so eloquently the meeting of Philadel- 
phians that was held in resjionse to the news from New England, and 
when he advised the crowd not to be fired with enthusiasm and deter- 
mination that day and forget the crisis and cool off the next, he set 
it a powerful example by himself joining the military forces. He was 
one of the first aides-de-camp of Washington. He was quickly ad- 
vanced in rank to brigadier-general, and was given command of the 
Pennsylvania troops. He came to the assistance of the Commander-in- 
Chief at Long Island, where his genius covered up the retreat of Wash- 
ington's anny in a fog, after the Americans had been severely beaten. 

Pennsylvania and Philadelphia were proud of young MifiBin. They 
elected him to office after office, and he always proved their wisdom 
in selecting him. He was elected to succeed Franklin as President of 
the Supreme Executive Council in 1788, and under the new Constitu- 
tion of 1790 he was elected Governor. That Constitution limited a Grov- 
ernor to three terms of three years each, and Mifihn was re-elected 
twice ; and then, fearing to lose so good a man from the public service, 
the people sent him to the Assembly. But he did not live his full term, 
for he died in 1800. This remarkable man had a very checkered career 
so far as fortune played with him and was more than once reduced in 
circumstances. Indeed, his last days were clouded by poverty and the 
clamors of creditors, for with all his wisdom as a legislator and soldier 
and justice in his business with others, in his own affairs he was im- 
provident. 

In 1795 the Pennsylvania Land Office was next door to the Gov- 
ernor's home, the site of the present 720, which had been the residence 
of Ann Yorke, a widow, in 1791. Francis van Berckell, the Ambassador 
from Holland, resided in the house on the site of 728 in 1795, having 
removed from the square above Eighth, so it must be remembered that 
the Dutch Embassy at one time was on Market street. After the Dutch 
Ambassador removed, we find Benjamin Chew had his law office and 
no doubt his winter residence in the same house. He is thus set down 
in the directory for 1801. His summer home, of course, was the his- 
toric Chew House, Cliveden, Germantown, recalled as the scene of 
severe fighting during the Battle of Gemiantown. 

With such men as Governor Mifflin, Judge James Wilson, the 
Dutch Ambassador, General Thomas Cadwalader and William Rawie 



126 Market Street, Philadelphia 

dwelling on this side of the street, it will be understood that this must 
have been regarded as an eligible and even fashionable quarter in which 
to live. They were not all residents at the same time, of course, but 
their names will give an idea of the social appraisement of this part 
of Market street in the decade when Philadelphia was the national 
capital. 

William Rawle, who was United States District Attorney for Penn- 
sylvania at the time he occupied the dwelling on the site of the present 
730, was a great-grandson of Francis Rawle, who came to this country 
in 1686. After receiving his early education in the Friends' Academy 
here, he completed his training in the elementary schools in New York, 
where his stepfather, Samuel Shoemaker, a Loyalist, took him when 
the British evacuated Philadelphia in 1778. From New York he was 
sent to London, where he entered the Temple and continued the legal 
studies he had begun in the office of Attorney-General Kempe in New 
York. 

It was from the fact that many of the young men of the wealthier 
class in Philadelphia completed their legal training in the Temple in 
London that the Philadelphia lawyer early won such high reputation 
for his learning and knowledge of the law. Eawle seems to have had 
the Penns for clients almost as soon as he completed his studies and 
was admitted to practice law. For many years the Rawles were the 
representatives or agents of the Founder's family in this country. 

William Rawle attained high rank in his profession in this city, 
easily taking his place beside such eminent leaders at the bar as Tilgh- 
man, IngersoU and Dallas. Although a good many Philadelphians 
ranked young Rawle as a Loyalist, owing to the attitude of his step- 
father, he was placed in positions of honor, and Washington himself 
showed his appreciation of his high ability as a leader by appointing 
him United States Attorney for Pennsylvania in 1791. While serving 
in this office Mr. Rawle was sent with a United States Judge to accom- 
pany the military forces to western Pennsylvania, when the "Whisky 
Insurrection" was being suppressed in 1794. He declined tenders of 
a place on the bench of the United States District Court here and also 
the position of President Judge of the Pennsylvania District Court. 
He was prominently identified with the literary and learned societies 
of Philadelphia, and was one of the founders of the Historical Society 
of Pennsylvania in 1824. He was Vice-President of the Law Academy 
of Philadelphia upon its organization, and was made Chancellor of the 
Associated Members of the Bar of Philadelphia. His "View of the 
Constitution of the United States" was for almost half a century the 
authority on the subject, and he was one of the members of the com- 
mission that revised the Civil Code of Pennsylvania in 1830. He died 
in 1836. 










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Its Merchants akd Its Story 127 

Across Market street from AVilliam Eawle's house was the resi- 
dence of his stepfather, Samuel Shoemaker, in 1791. Shoemaker was 
then retired and is described in the directory simply as "gentleman." 
The site of Samuel Shoemaker's house was 731, now covered by the 
bmlding of Lit Brothers. 

In this square, between Seventh and Eighth streets, were two pot- 
teries during the last decade of the eighteenth century ; indeed. Market 
street has been famed for its potteries in the early years. The two on 
the south side of the street in the block we are now considering, how- 
ever, have not contributed a great deal to the history of artistic pottery. 

Very little appears to be known of John Hinckle and William 
Headman, who had their potteries here between 1791 and 1801. Hinckle 
had his place at what would now be 708 or 710 before 1791. What 
kind of ware he made is not now known, neither is there any information 
regarding the character of the product of the pottery of Headman, 
which was on the site of the present 736. However, in the latter in- 
stance, we may surmise that he was engaged in the manufacture of a 
common ware, a rather primitive form of decorative pottery. 

This surmise is founded upon the fact that there have been found 
pieces of such ware bearing the initials of Andrew Headman, whose 
pottery was at Rock Hill, Bucks County. Andrew Headman is known 
to have been in business in Bucks County in 1808, and there is strong 
probability that he was related to William Headman, who had his place 
on Market street from 1795 to 1798. The Pennsylvania Germans dur- 
ing the eighteenth century operated several potteries that have become 
famed for their product, but until the opening years of the last century 
very little pottery of importance, from an artistic standpoint, was pro- 
duced in this city. It seems allowable to assign both Hinckle and Head- 
man to the Pennsylvania Germans, but their ware probably was only 
cheap pottery, of the kind called earthenware. 

About the time these potteries were on Market street a stone cutter, 
named Richard North, dwelt on the north side of Market street at about 
the site of the present 719. His chief claim to distinction lies in the 
fact that he carved the has relief of the Pennsylvania arms that is 
imbedded in the front wall over the entrance of old Congress Hall at 
Sixth and Chestnut streets. This work shows him to have been a ca- 
pable commei'cial sculptor. 

North evidently removed from the house at 715 before 1795, for 
in that year we find him at what now would be 719, and at his old ad- 
dress John Dunwoody is keeping the Spread Eagle Inn. About the 
opening year of the last century the Spread Eagle was removed to the 
northwest corner of Ninth and Market streets, and we may have a word 
more to say of it when we reach Ninth street. 

But we do not have to go so far back to find spots of interest in 



128 Market Street, Philadelphia 

this square. During the middle years of the last century one of the 
most popular confectioneries in this city, that of S. Henrion, was 
located at 242, now 712. In those days confectioners made cordials as 
well as candies, and on the billhead of Henrion 's successor, A. J. 
Chauveau, who occupied the place until about 1858, we find that he 
was distiller as well as confectioner. Chauveau became almost as well 
remembered as his predecessor, and it is interesting to note that his 
son and grandson followed him in the business. 

The same block, also like many another on Market street, had a 
newspaper published within its bounds. This was the Evening Herald, 
which for about a year had its office at 708 in 1867-68. At that time 
the paper, which had been brought into being in 1866 in an effort to 
reach the Democratic voters who were without an organ, was published 
by C. F. Reinstein & Co. After a career of four years at various loca- 
tions, the high cost of white paper interfered with its success finan- 
cially, and in 1870 it was sold to Denis F. Dealy, who three years later 
had to retire from business on account of his health. The new jjro- 
prietors, however, failed to maintain its success and in 1877 Dealy, 
who in 1874 had purchased the Evening Chronicle, bought back the 
Herald and combined the two as the Chronicle-Herald. That sheet for 
some years had a fairly successful career and was the organ of the 
stalwart Democrats of the city. After Dealy 's final retirement from 
the paper it came into the possession of Louis E. Levy, who conducted 
it with great care and also issued an attractive Sunday edition, called 
The Mirror, which was illustrated with half-tone cuts, but even these 
had to succumb about twenty-five years ago. The Chronicle-Herald and 
The Mirror were issued from Seventh street below Market for years. 

There were a few other landmarks to be found in the square from 
Seventh street to Eighth, but we shall not be able to look at them, save 
in a few instances in which pictures may be found that show us what 
they were. On the north side of the street the vast building of Lit 
Brothers has effaced virtually all of the former structures, and on the 
south side there are no ancient buildings now to be found in the same 
square. 

Among the residents of this square probably none was better known 
than Elliston Perot and his young brother, John. The Perots were 
natives of Bermuda, but had been in business in the Island of Dominica. 
John, after he and his brother, who had been made prisoners of war 
by Great Britain, then in conflict with Holland, had been released, came 
to Philadelphia in 1781. His brother Elliston, who had been seeking 
redress in Europe for the loss the firm had incurred through the British, 
joined John here in 1784, having failed to obtain the restoration of a 
single penny. They had their first place of business in "Water street, 
next to Stephen Girard, for they were of French descent, and that part 




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Its Merchants and Its Story 129 

of the city in those days appears to have been the quarter where the 
French in Philadelphia elected to reside. 

The brothers engaged in the West India trade and within a short 
time they had taken residences on Market street between Seventh and 
Eighth. In 1795 we find Ellistou Perot residing at 299, the site of 
what now would be 733, and his brother John lived at 279, or what now 
would be 709. About the beginning of the last century, however, they 
became next-door neighbors and John removed next to his brother 
EUiston, at what now would be 731. At first Elliston Perot occupied 
the western part of the lot numbered 299, the eastern part being occu- 
pied by a coachmaker named James Ker. Both brothers built on the 
lot after Elliston had secured the coachmaker 's site, but until Elliston 's 
death there was a wide passageway or drive between the two houses. 
After Elliston died the property was sold and two modern store build- 
ings were built on his lot. John's house was, in 1859, said to be the 
only dwelling on Market street east of Tenth, by which was meant 
the only building that was in no part a store, for even so late as 1859 
there were still dwellers on this part of Market street. 

Elliston Perot is remembered as the first Philadelphian to select 
Long Branch as a place of summer resort, and each year, beginning 
toward the close of the eighteenth century, he drove his family down 
to the New Jersey seaside and they spent the hot months there. At 
that time there were few houses at Long Branch, and there were no 
other means of reaching the resort than by wagon or coach. 

In this house on Market street Elliston Perot's son, Francis, was 
born in 1796. At an early age he was apprenticed to Thomas Morris, 
whose brewery had been established in 1687, and served six years learn- 
ing the business of brewing and malting. Subsequently he engaged in 
business for himself, purchasing the brewery and malt house on the 
south side of Vine street between Third and Fourth. There he had 
erected one of the first stationary steam engines to be put up in this 
country. This was in 1819, and for half a century the machine daily 
continued to work successfully. A few years later Francis Perot mar- 
ried the daughter of his former employer, Elizabeth Marshall Morris. 
Their son, T. Morris Perot, studied chemistry and pharmacy and 
started a wholesale drug business in 1851, and after their building, then 
at 621 Market street, had been destroyed by fire in 1869, T. Morris 
Perot and his partner, Edward H. Ogden, his brother-in-law, entered 
into partnership with Francis Perot, who had succeeded Thomas Morris 
in business at 310 Vine street. The firm is still in existence, but 
while the office is in this city, the main jilant of the company is at 
Oswego, and in the concern as officers of the Francis Perot's Sons 
Malting Company are T. Morris Perot and Elliston Perot, both sons 
of T. Morris Perot, and continuing the long line of brewers and 



& 



130 Market Street, Philadelphia 

malsters. As the house dates from five years after the foundin 
of Philadelphia, it is unlikely that there is such another ancient house 
in this country descending through one family. 

Mention was made above of the Spread Eagle Inn that was kept 
by Dunwoody in 1795 at what now would be 715 Market street. This 
place seems to have continued as a tavern until the middle of the last 
century, and in 1859 it was known as the "WTiite Hall House, evidently 
named for the district of that name in the northeast section of the 
city. In the 60 's this building and the one next to it, 713, were re- 
moved and made way for the large publishing house of J. B. Lippincott 
& Co., later known as the J. B. Lipijincott Company. The publishing 
firm remained there until about 1899, when they abandoned the retail 
part of their business, and in November of that year the Lippincott 
publishing house on the rear of the lot was completely gutted by one 
of the most disastrous fires that ever occurred in this neighborhood. 

This fire started about 6 o'clock on the morning of November 29, 
1899, in Partridge & Richardson's store at the southeast corner of 
Eighth and Filbert streets, and four hours later nearly half of the block 
was in ruins and a loss estimated then at more than $1,250,000 had been 
sustained. Partridge and Richardson's and the Lippincott Company's 
buildings were virtually effaced, and mauy other properties in the vicin- 
ity were more or less damaged. The Lippincotts lost a great quantity 
of their valuable electrotype plates, estimated to be worth more than 
$400,000, and causing many important publications to become suddenly 
out of print. The store where the fire originated from a defective elec- 
tric wire or fuse also was a total loss, estimated at more than half a 
million dollars. 

In a photograph of John Perot's house on Market street there is 
visible on the skj'line a weather vane surmounted by a mermaid. This 
artistic vane ornamented a cupola designed after the lantern of 
Demosthenes, still a prominent feature of the old Merchants ' Exchange 
Building, at Dock and Walnut streets, and was raised over the roof of 
the wholesale drug house of George W. Carpenter & Co., at the north- 
east corner of Eighth and Market streets. This high structure was for 
many years a landmark, even long after Carpenter was dead, and the 
building was occupied as a cloth house. George W. Carpenter, who 
did a large business with the South and West before the Civil War, 
was bom in Germantown in 1802 and died in 1860. He was one of the 
early members of the Academy of Natural Sciences, and was a con- 
tributor of valuable articles on the subjects of dmgs and medicines, 
which was in the line of his business, but he also was a prominent 
geologist, and when he built his fine place at Mt. Airy, which, in honor 
of his wife, he named Philellena, he provided a museum for his im- 
mense and valuable collection of minerals. 




JOHN I'EKOTS IIorSR lai MAUKKT STREIOT. 1S50 



Tt was iU that time the only (Iwelliiii.' Iiotise 
on Market street east of Tenth. 



Its Meechants and Its Stoky 131 

The Carpenter place at Mount Airy, which was sold about twenty- 
five years ago, was one of the show places in Germantown. Its natural 
beauties had been enriched by the addition of many pieces of sculpture 
and paintings from Joseph Bonai^arte's estate at Bordentown. The 
lawn was itself a large gallery of sculpture, and in the house the paint- 
ings were hung in every public room. The whole contents were dis- 
posed of at auction in 1893, and later the old mansion was removed. 
Fine houses have been erected on the site of the old place and the visitor 
to the neighborhood gets a reminder of the estate from the names of 
the streets that formerly bounded it. One of these is called Carpenter 
street and the other Phil-EUena street. All else of its glory has de- 
parted. Carpenter began business on Market street in 1828, next to 
the corner of Eighth, and about 1840 erected the four-story building 
which became the landmark until it was removed in 1900 for the ex- 
tension of the store of Lit Brothers. 



CHAPTER XVII 

EIGHTH STREET TO NINTH WESTERN TERMINUS OF THE MARKET SHEDS 

THE SECKELS KEELY AND HIS MOTOR CARRYING MAIL IN 1838 

SAMUEL BRECK 

Wlien Matthew Clarkson and M. Biddle published their plan, or 
map, of Philadelphia in 1762, they found the western edge of the city 
to be a little above Eighth street, while the bulk of the built-up parts 
of Philadelphia, as seen from this map, did not extend westward beyond 
Fifth street. There were open lots and a few isolated houses dotting 
blocks here and there, and to the southwest the last building indicated 
was the Pennsylvania Hospital at Eighth and Sprace streets. Only 
a score of years before this it is said that woods extended almost down 
to Eighth street, although what was called the Governor's Woods did 
not begin, according to Watson, until Broad street was reached, beyond 
which thoroughfare, then only a path, the city was a primitive wilder- 
ness. On Clarkson & Biddle 's map we find a small building indicated 
at the southwest corner of Eighth and Market streets, while a little 
west of Eighth street on the north side a larger structure is indicated. 
Below Eighth, and between that street and Seventh, only two houses, 
at the northwest corner of the latter and Market street, are shown. 
The remainder of the square consists of vacant lands. The south side 
of Market street, within this square, was a little better settled, for there 
were four or five houses built on it. 

Eighth street was the western terminus of the market sheds in the 
middle of Market street. These sheds were extended from Sixth street 
to Eighth about 1816, and they remained until all the sheds were re- 
moved from the middle of the street, in 1859. Eastward the freight 
cars of the City Eailway, which were drawn by animal power, used a 
single track, while above Eighth street there were double tracks. The 
advent of the street passenger railways, in 1858, by adding additional 
tracks to the street and by compelling the use of a track on the south 
side of the sheds, advanced the long-continued movement to have the 
markets removed. The street cars in a year did more to that end 
than all the movements and memorials and meetings of the years before 
that time. 

As we cross Eighth street we may pause for a moment to say that 
here, at 9 North Eighth street, in modest lodgings kept by Mrs. 
Eosannah White, Washington spent his last days in Philadelphia. This 
132 



Its Merchants and Its Story 133 

was in November, 1798, after he had retired from the Presidency and 
had withdrawn, as he thought, permanently from public life. But when 
the French attacks upon our vessels became so numerous and the coun- 
try was on the verge of going to war with France, in name as well as in 
fact. President Adams called upon Cincinnatus to once more forsake 
his plow at Mount Vernon and take command of the army. Washington 
reluctantly accepted the invitation and came to this city to assume 
his command, and spent a short time here. A year later the whole 
country was shocked by news of his death. 

The square on Market street from Eighth to Ninth is not without 
its historic page. Indeed, a great deal of interesting history was made 
there in one way or another, although most of it is now forgotten. 
According to Clarkson's map of 1762, already mentioned, there was 
a rather large mansion on the north side of Market street just above 
Eighth. From its appearance on the plan it seems to have been sur- 
rounded by a spacious garden. At any rate, this was later the home 
of David Seckel, a prosperous butcher, whose name is kept green by 
the well-liked Seckel pear, although those who eat this fruit and call 
it "sickel pear" are unaware of its origin. 

David Seckel is said to have been the owner of the first Seckel pear 
tree in this city. At least it was standing on his plantation in The 
Neck, the estate which later passed into the possession of Stephen 
Girard. His son, Laurence, however, is said to have been responsible 
for popularizing the fruit. The tree, which at the time not only had 
no name, but was not regarded as worth picking, bad been on the 
property so long that no one knew whence it came. One day Laurence 
Seckel picked one of the pears when it was ripe and ate it. He found 
it so good that he ate several others, and then he began to give the fruit 
of this neglected tree to his friends in the city. In a short time the 
Seckel pear, as it was named after the man who adopted it, became a 
very popular fruit, although more recently the Seckel pear has again 
been neglected. The tree, according to Watson, the annalist, was still 
standing in 184:2, but one side of it was decayed, for the tree stood in 
alluvial soil; but he mentions that in 1834 it bore well. 

It is said that the garden around the Seckel mansion, at Eighth 
and Market streets, had several of these pear trees, evidently planted 
after the old plantation in The Neck had passed to Girard. For years 
the pear was not only a novelty but a luxury, but it long ago passed 
into the pear of commerce, and it is now grown freely all over Pennsyl- 
vania and probably elsewhere. In 1785 there were two houses on this 
lot. George Seckel, gentleman, resided in the western one and David 
Seckel, butcher, on the one nearest Eighth street. Laurence Seckel, 
who was one of the early members of the Dancing Assembly, died March 
6, 1823, at the age of seventy-seven years. 



134 Mabket Street, Philadelphia 

In a building no longer in existence, at 815 or 817, John Keely 
first began to attract the attention of the world by his announcement 
of astounding discoveries in physics, and for more than a quarter cen- 
tury he managed to excite interest in his inventions, usually alluded to 
as the Keely motor. Yet no one ever was able to wrest from him the 
secret of this extraordinary machine. Even the company organized 
to promote the enterprise never was pennitted to learn it, but it may 
be explained that the alleged secret never was one to experienced and 
well-trained scientists, although at different times one or another of 
these professional men seemed to have fallen under the hypnotic spell 
of Keely, and gravely announced a belief in the existence of some won- 
derful new force discovered by this wizard. 

That Keely was one of the greatest humbugs who ever passed a 
pleasant career fooling the greater part of the civilized world was gen- 
erally admitted before his death in 1898. It then was understood that 
what the inventor really had done was what is being done on the stage 
every night in the week somewhere by professional entertainers known 
as magicians or conjurers. He was perpetrating tricks that were won- 
derful if they were believed to be accomplished in the manner Keely 
alleged, but which could be perfectly well duplicated by methods fa- 
miliar to every physicist or engineer. 

When Keely resided on Market street, from about 1867 to 1873, 
he was set down in the directories as musician. While not a great deal 
of liis early career was known, it has been declared that he had been 
connected with some theatrical enterprise, and that he was for a time 
a stage conjurer; he also was an orchestra musician. There seems to 
be some probability of this, for his later career, when he was keeping 
the waiting shareholders of the Keely Motor Company expecting each 
year tidings of the entire success of his wonderful invention, which 
always, especially after a stormy meeting, was just about to be ac- 
complished, had about it something suggestive of the kind of humbug- 
ging one expects when he attends an entertainment given by a magician. 
Of course, it seemed to be carrying a joke a good way, but Keely evi- 
dently enjoyed it. 

Mrs. Bloomfield Moore, the friend of the poet, Robert Browning, and 
herself a capable versifier, became deeply interested in Keely 's work. 
She is said not only to have contributed more than $60,000 to him for 
his experiments, but until the end stoutly maintained that Keely was 
the greatest discoverer the world ever had seen, and that his new force 
would be the greatest power ever applied to mechanics. She wrote a 
book on the subject in 1894, and it was said at the time of her death, 
in London in January, 1899, less than two months after Keely had 
passed away, that she had died of a broken heart. 

The late Addison B. Burk, president of the Spring Garden Insti- 




SAMTEL BRIX'K. JU. 

Whose ineinoirs give vitality to nnich 

riuliidelpliia liistory 




KKKI.Y .VXD HIS -MOTOi; 



Its Merchants and Its Stoey 135 

tute, and E. A. Scott, a consulting engineex-, paid foui" visits to Keely's 
shop, a few years before liis death, at the suggestion of Mrs. Moore, 
and from what they saw of the inventor's experiments they decided 
that no new force had been discovered, and afterward Mr. Burk dupli- 
cated at the Spring Garden Institute at least two of the most wonderful 
experiments. Of course, these were accomplished by familiar methods. 
It was found that a platinum wire that Keely insisted was a wire was 
really a tube through which compressed air was passed to give motion 
to the machines. The new force used by Keely was the old one of 
compressed air, and his machine, including his motor, was merely de- 
signed for the use of air in a manner that would not be suspected by the 
inexperienced. 

Keely died November 18, 1898, at the age of seventy-one years, 
and although expectation that his will would divulge his secret force 
was entertained by many who had blind faith in him, the document 
proved to be disappointing, for it never referred to his motor, but 
devised his personal property, said to have been worth about $10,000 
to his widow. 

Owing to the fact that the first Pennsylvania Railroad station, or 
depot, as it then was called, was located in this square. Market street 
from Eighth to Ninth was plentifully supplied with hotels in the early 
days, and several of these survived until only a few years ago. At 815, 
where Keely resided at one time, was for many years the Washington 
Hotel. For a period this was kept by a man named Dasch, and in 1850 
Samuel Derr was its proprietor. Further along in the block, at 831, 
was the William Penn. In 1850 this was managed by J. Thompson, 
and the house was standing as recently as 1875. Next to it, on the 
west, at 83, was the Eagle Hotel, kept in 1850 by H. Neuman, and 
evidently keeping alive the sign of the old Spread Eagle, which once 
stood at the northwest corner of Ninth and Market streets. On the 
south side of the street in the same square was the Alleghany House, 
kept in 1850 by Mrs. Shelton. This stood at 814, and near to it, at 818, 
was the Western Hotel. At one time this was kept by Jesse Tomlinson. 
These have been effaced by the Gimbel Brothers' big store. 

In the Civil War days James Prosser, a famed terrapin chef, had 
a restaurant at 806. Prosser was a fine-looking mulatto, and his terra- 
pin has been made historic in verse. 

The late Councilman William Van Osten, who lived to celebrate 
his ninetieth birthday in 1915, recalled the old railroad station here, and 
with some reason, for about four years, when he was a boy, he was 
engaged in carrying the mails for William Cameron and Jacob Peters, 
who had the contract. Cameron was a brother of Senator Simon Cam- 
eron, and Peters, who had the White Swan Inn at Second and Race 
streets, also had a line of stages. 



136 Makket Street, Philadelphia 

Mr. Van Osten, in recalling his experiences, said that he went to 
this work when he was a boy of thirteen, or in 1838. His duty was to 
get the mail from the post-office, then in the old Exchange Building, 
at Walnut and Dock streets, carry it in a wagon to the depot of the 
Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad, at what would now be 812 Market 
street, where the mail sacks were placed on the train. 

The "train," he explained, usually consisted of a single ear. At 
times there were two cars. He placed the sacks in one corner of the 
car and then the four horses that were attached to the "train" started 
with it out Market street. The route was to Broad street, to Willow, 
and then along the present line of the Reading subway to the Schuylkill 
river, crossing the Columbia bridge. He remained with the mail until 
the other side of the river was reached, where the train was placed 
on the inclined plane and hoisted up Belmont hill, and on the other 
side of it an engine was hitched to the car or cars, and the journey to 
Columbia was begim. 

Mr. Van Osten 's duties stopped at the foot of the Inclined Plane. 
There he was met by the State agent and given a receipt for his mail 
sacks. He waited there for the western train to bring the incoming 
mail, and accompanied it back over the same route. There were two 
trains a day in each direction. 

The depot was next door to the Alleghany House, and after the 
Pennsylvania Railroad established a new station at Broad and Cherry 
streets on the site of the Academy of Fine Arts, the old building on 
Market street was used by the newly formed Philadelphia, Wilmington 
and Baltimore Railroad, of which Matthew Newkirk was the president 
and inspiration. 

In 1785 there were no buildings on the south side of Market street 
between Eighth and Ninth. By 1791, however, the westward tide 
had set in, and there were seven buildings on this ground. At the 
southwest corner of Eighth street Henry Kremer, a shopkeeper, was 
to be found, and next to him was Joseph Ogden, clerk of the market. 
In a large house, at what then was 276, and later was 808, dwelt the 
Representative from the United Netherlands, as he was put down in 
the directoiy, and two doors west of him was William Hamilton, a 
carpenter. 

In the course of his memoir of Samuel Breck, read before the His- 
torical Society of Pennsylvania in 1863, Joseph R. IngersoU described 
the character of Market street, between Eighth and Ninth, at the close 
of the eighteenth century, when Philadelphia was the nation's capital: 

"Families," he said, "occupied almost all of the houses — some of them be- 
ing the homes of bachelors of wealth, equally devoted to the display of ele- 
gance. The northwest [probably northeast] comer of Market and ninth streets 
was held by such a gentleman. A custom prevailed to make the pavement 
along the north side a resort on Sunday afternoons and evenings, of gay and 







x i J: 

" = ^ 

y. ^ "^ 

^ i; t/. 



Its Merchants and Its Stokt 137 

well-dressed persons, male and female : not less crowded than a visitor at 
Paris sees in the neighborhood of the Bois de Boulogne. 

"At that period the southeastern part of the town, which has undergone 
a change, was also especially a fashionable place of abode. He [Samuel 
Breck] wrote to a friend in 1854 that he has seen assembled at his father's 
of an evening, in a social way, the three Princes of Orleans, one of whom 
became King Louis Phillipe; Talleyrand, and his inseparable companion. 
Beaumez : Volney, and he thinlcs, the Duke of Liancourt, and many other 
distinguished French noblemen, emigrants — such as Talon, a jurist of great 
eminence in the Parliamentary Courts of Louis XVI. No one now living 
here probably carries with him a recollection and impression of such royal 
and high-bred companionship at home." 

Samuel Breck and his father, whose name also was Samuel, have 
given to this square a distinction that few others on Market street can 
hoast. They came from Boston, where the elder Breck was a wealthy 
merchant. The younger Breck, whose "Recollections" is one of the 
most charming volumes of its kind that deals with this part of the 
country, relates in that book how his father left Boston on account of 
an unfair tax laid upon him. This was in 1792, and in that year the 
house then numbered 321, on the site of the present 817, was purchased, 
and the family removed to this city. 

The gossipy pages of the younger Breck described the property 
in these words : 

It was a modern construction, with lofty ceilings ; a front of thirty feet ; 
a deep lot with coachhouse and stables in the rear, and a carriage way 
into Filbert street. For this property my father paid eleven thousand dollars, 
and as soon as the purchase was made he transplanted his family forever 
from his native town to the beautiful city of Philadelphia. This event was 
forced upon him, but neither he nor my mother ever regretted the removal, 
notwithstanding he lost fifty thousand dollars on the sale of his house and 
gardens, which he sold to my micle Andrews for eight thousand five hundred 
dollars, who resold them for about sixty thousand dollars. The whole of our 
taxes in Philadelphia were fiftj-tive dollars, being just about the amount of 
the Boston collector's commissions on my father's taxes in that town. 

Birch's view of "High Street from Ninth," which was published 
in 1799, shows the Breck mansion and a great deal of what was known 
as Hunter's row, of which the Breck mansion appears to have been a 
part. On a copy of this rare old engraving owned by the yoimger Breck 
was written : ' ' The middle house with green blinds on the left belonged 
to S. Breck, my father, who resided there many years. It was large, 
modern and convenient, and I sold it for my mother in 1810 for sixteen 
thousand five hundred dollars. The house adjoining belonged to our 
family, and was sold for nine thousand dollars." The Breck house was 
a double one, which accounts for the difference in values. 

Samuel Breck, the younger, lived a very long life. He was born 
four years before the battle of Bunker Hill, and as a child was held 
in arms to witness that combat from a safe distance. Yet he lived to 
see the second year of the Civil War well along, dying in 1862, in his 
ninety- second year. 



138 Market Street, Philadelphia 

Breck, who succeeded his father in business, had his counting house 
at Walnut street wharf. He erected the mansion, Sweet Briar, now in 
Fairmount Park, and that remained his residence for many years. He 
was at one time a member of Congress, and at another a member of the 
State Legislature. He not only inherited wealth from his father, but 
also that indescribable social attraction which made his house the 
rendezvous for distinguished foreigners and strangers from other parts 
of the country. He took a deep interest in various literary, agricul- 
tural and benevolent organizations, and contributed several historical 
pamphlets to our knowledge of the State and its resources. 

In 1791 George Hunter had a coach factory at what now would 
be 817, and William Hunter, also a coachmaker, had either his place 
of business or his dwelling on the site of 813. From these Hunters 
the row of fine modern dwellings that were erected about 1790 became 
known to Philadelphians as Hunters' Row. This property is now cov- 
ered by the big store of Strawbridge & Clothier, which firm began 
business in a modest manner in a single building at the northwest cor- 
ner of Eighth and Market streets in 1868. 

Next to George Hunter's coach factory in this year lived David 
Kennedy, then Secretary of the Land OiEce of the State. At 321, the 
house purchased by the elder Breck, Dr. Thomas Rushton and William 
Smith, of South Carolina, lived the same year. By the time the Brecks 
moved into this block it was fairly populated. 

In 1795 we find at the northwest corner of Eighth street Samuel 
Bryan, the Register-General of Pennsylvania, lived. Next to him came 
the Seckels, and at 315, now 811, Major Pierce Butler, then a Senator 
from South Carolina, had his dwelling ; next to him lived John Travers, 
set down as merchant in the directories. Then came Edmund Ran- 
dolph, who had just retired from Washington's Cabinet as Secretary 
of State. Randolph retired under fire, and, although his fame has 
suffered somewhat from misunderstandings of the true cause, the 
efforts of his descendants to restore his character seem to have been 
favored by success. 

Next door to the Brecks, in 1795, at 325, or really 323, John Eck- 
stein, a very capable engraver and etcher, had his home and studio. 
Eckstein etched the frontispieces for the 1809 edition of Freneau's 
"Poems," and they are of real artistic importance. Further west, in 
the same block, in this year James Pemberton, who had a large planta- 
tion on Gi'ay's Ferry road, now covered by the Naval Asylum, had his 
mansion, and next door to him lived Samuel Pleasants, a wealthy mer- 
chant, and nearest to Ninth street, probably at the corner, Joseph 
Anthony, a retired merchant lived. 




Xoli'lMI SII>F, (IF AIAItKKT STliKlOT, I.(l(iKI.\(; FAST KKOM MXTII. IX IST 



The aiR-ieiit cbai-juler of the Ihonmijhriii-e had already 
iinders<iiie changes at the time this iiluito,i;ra|ih was made. 
There is a reiiiiiider of older times in the sisn of the William 
Penn Hotel, the fifth house from the left. Four tracks are 
to he seen In the street. The inner ones were those of the 
Philadelphia and Columhia Itailroad. still occasionally used 
down to tills |ioinl in 1X75. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

EIGHTH STREET TO NINTH, CONTINUED EDMUND RANDOLPH ISRAEL 

PEMBERTON OLIVER EVANS AND HIS STEAM CARRIAGE, 1804 

The most important residents of the block from Eightli street to 
Ninth in 1795 were Edmund Randolph, Pierce Butler, Samuel Breck and 
James Pemberton, all of them names familiar to everyone versed in local 
history, although Randolph, of course, bore a name of far wider re- 
nown. It was unfortunate that Randolph, after a public career of 
twenty years, was destined to end that ei^och by leaving office under a 
cloud. That he was entirely innocent of any wrongdoing was shown by 
his own "Vindication," and the attitude of his friends in his own life- 
time, and in the several "Lives" of him that have since appeared. 
Yet, only a few years ago, the old charges against him loomed up again 
in the inoffensive pages of Dr. S. Weir Mitchell's novel, "The Red 
City." The doctor fell into the error of supposing that the matter 
never had been cleared up and that Randolph had resigned from office 
under the dreadful stigma of having the charges against him "not 
proven." 

This passing reference to Randolph was immediately taken up by 
one of his descendants, Agnes Chauncey, who, in a pamphlet addressed 
to "the readers of Doctor Mitchell's historical novel, 'The Red City,' " 
gave a brief but rather clear resume of the whole transaction, which, 
as she has shown, was not to Randolph's discredit. 

Randolph had long been known to Washington, and the two were 
intimate friends. Randolph's father and his grandfather were King's 
Attorneys in Virginia. When Washington took command of the army 
in 1775 he made his fellow Virginian one of his aides-de-camp, and for 
the following twenty years he was constantly serving the public in one 
capacity or another, and always with fidelity and ability. Virginia 
made him her Attorney-General, then her Governor, and sent him as 
one of her representatives to the Constitutional Convention. Wash- 
ington appointed him his first Attorney-General, and he remained in 
that office until he was appointed Secretary of State uj^on the resigna- 
tion of Jefferson in 1794. 

It was a time of great excitement. There were bitter party con- 
tests in Congress; Jay's Treaty with Great Britain had been most 
unpopular with the Republicans, and in addition there had broken out 
in Pennsylvania a small rebellion known as the AYhisky Insurrection, 

139 



140 Maeket Street, Philadelphia 

which caused the greatest concern to the officers in charge of the Gov- 
ernment. At the same time English ships were taking men and food 
off ships bound for France, and here, in Philadelphia, there was a 
French party that was doing pretty much as it pleased. Washington 
is said to have sighed that he would rather be dead than in the Presi- 
dency, and in the midst of this turmoil an English ship had intercepted 
a bundle of dispatches written by the French representative, Fauchet, 
to his Government. 

The bundle was sent to the British Minister, and in due course they 
were displayed to Washington. Wolcott, Pickering and Bradford 
gathered at the Executive Mansion and interpreted one of the letters 
to indicate that Randolph had made overture to the French repre- 
sentative for the advance of sums of money. Randolph, who had been 
called to the conference, was requested to wait in another room while 
the three members of the Cabinet and the President discussed the 
subject. The Secretary of State, naturally, was incensed at this treat- 
ment, said he would put his reply on paper, but added that he would not 
continue in office a minute longer after such treatment. 

Randolph not only did write a detailed denial of the truth of insin- 
uations, but, finding that Fauchet had started for France, followed him 
to Newport and there received from him a certificate to the effect that 
he had not intended to insinuate anything derogatory to the Secretary 
of State. Later Randolph wrote his long "Vindication," and while 
his friends never doubted him, his enemies, among them Cobbett, con- 
tinued their professional enmity. Unfortunately a blot was placed on 
Randolph's name, although by this time that name seems to have been 
rehabilitated. 

James Pemberton, who, in 1795 was a resident of the same block 
on Market street, was one of the last men in the city to wear the old 
cocked hat, which was a familiar sight on the city streets. He was born 
in Philadelphia, of Quaker parentage, was reared at the Friends' 
School, and became noted as one of their best speakers or preachers. 
At the time of the Revolution he let it be known that he was averse to 
war, not only because it was hateful in the eyes of the Friends, but 
because he had not been convinced that war was the only way of settling 
differences between two countries, thus becoming one of the earliest 
exponents of international arbitration. 

He was a son of Israel Pemberton, who had a "great house" at 
Third and Chestnut streets. He was wealthy, and in his young man- 
hood traveled a great deal, both in this country and in Europe. He 
was a merchant and throve, adding to the fortune that already was his. 
In spite of his peaceful attitude, strange to relate, he was one of the 
small party of Quakers who were exiled to Virginia during the Revo- 
lution "to keep the peace." 








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Its Merchants and Its Story 141 

Taking deep interest in the welfare of the Colored race, Pemberton 
became one of the original members of the Abolition Society. His 
benevolence also directed him to interest himself in the Pennsylvania 
Hospital, with which he continued to be associated to the time of his 
death, in 1809, He was a typical Quaker, and his picturesque figure on 
the streets of the city was familiar to almost every Philadelphian in 
the latter part of the eighteenth century. He lived to be eighty-six 
years of age. 

In 1801 the house that had been occupied by James Pemberton was 
the dwelling of Rebecca Shoemaker, described in the directory as 
gentlewoman. At that time the dwelling next door, at what would now 
be either 825 or 827, Caspar Morris, brewer, lived. Morris was one 
of the last of the same name to conduct the brewery that had been 
founded by Anthony Morris five years after Penn's first visit, which 
business, through the intermarriage of the families, has come into the 
possession of the Perots. 

At this time Robert Fielding, a coach maker, had his dwelling next 
to the corner of Eighth street and his shop further west, at 325 and 327, 
near Ninth street. 

On the south side of the street, in 1795, we find the corner of 
Eighth street occupied by Alexander Austin, a shoemaker. Next door 
to him was Joseph Carre, whose name in the directory is accompanied 
by the information that he was an "ice cream seller." It is presumed 
that Carre also manufactured the dish for which Philadelphia has 
always been famed in this country. Certainly he was selling ice cream 
for half a dozen years before Bosse, who always has been regarded as 
one of the first to introduce the confection here. Bosse had his place 
on South Fifth street in 1801. 

Joseph Ogden, Register of Weights and Measures, lived in the 
third house from Eighth street in 1795, and his next-door neighbor was 
Judge James Wilson, who had moved from Seventh and Market streets. 
In a large house, shown in Birch's view of this square, then numbered 
276, Israel ^lielen lived in this year. Whelen, who then was a wealthy 
merchant, had been Commissary-General during the Revolution, all of 
which we discussed when we were passing from Fourth street to Fifth. 

In 1801 the house that had been tenanted by Whelen was occupied 
by A. J. Dallas, then Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 
and the dwelling formerly that of Judge Wilson was the home of 
Thomas Leiper, a wealthy tobacconist. Leiper was born in Scotland, 
and when he first came to this country landed in Maryland, but his 
history is not connected with either, but with Pennsylvania, and more 
particularly Philadelphia. He was here before the Revolution, and, 
indeed, when the conflict broke, he already was one of the most promi- 
nent tobacco merchants in this city. He was one of the first men in 



142 Market Street, Philadelphia 

Pennsylvania to advocate rupture with the mother country, and he even 
went so far as to start a fund for open resistance to the British crown. 

One of the original members of the First City Troop, he served 
with that organization in the Bevolution as lieutenant and as treasurer. 
In the latter capacity he is said to have carried the last subsidies of 
the French to the Americans then at Yorktown. He was major of the 
Horse of the Legion, which was recniited to oppose the famed Black 
Cockade forces which had been raised by the friends of John Adams. 
It is said that the recruiting for this command was made entirely at 
Leiper's own expense. He gave freely from his own well-filled purse to 
many public movements, and to the fund raised by the Bank of North 
America toward the end of the Revolution he is said to have given 
£5000. 

He conducted large snuff mills in Delaware County, and near his 
country seat at Avondale he worked a quarry, which supplied a great 
deal of the stone used in the building of the Philadelphia houses. One 
of his chief claims to remembrance lies in his introduction of tramcar 
railways in this country. He had the first one constructed at his quarries 
on Crown Creek in 1809. This road was three-quarters of a mile long, 
and the cars were drawn bj' horses. 

Leiper was a prominent Democratic politician and presided for 
years at every large meeting of that party held in Philadelphia, but 
he never sought public office, although he was a director in the Bank of 
Pennsylvania and of the Bank of the United States. During the second 
war with Great Britain, in 1812, Leiper serA^ed on the Commission for 
the defense of Philadelphia. At his death the obituary sketches that 
appeared seemed to unite in the statement that Leiper was a model 
citizen. A son of Leiper, George Gray Leiper, became a lay judge in 
Delaware County, and represented that district in Congress for one 
term. The elder Leiper died in 1825, in his eightieth year. 

At the southeast corner of Ninth and Market streets, now oblit- 
erated by the big Gimbel Brothers' store, for five years, or from 1799 
to 1804, Oliver Evans, one of the ingenious mechanics and inventors 
for whom Philadelphia early was famed, had his place of business. In 
1798 Evans had his shop further down Market street, at 275, the site 
of the present 705. There he sold flour, bolting cloth and general 
millers' supplies. But it was because Evans was one of the first men 
anywhere to drive by steam a vehicle on the roads that he becomes 
more interesting as motorcars become more numerous. 

His "Orukter Amphibolos" was not exactly similar to a modern 
racing car, or even a runabout, but those who watched its progress out 
Market street to the Schuylkill river in 1804 were present at one of the 
most interesting historical events that had its scene in this country. 
For Evans' ponderous vehicle, which was mainly intended for dredg- 




OLIVER EVANS 

Tii\»»iitnr Mini iiiilhvriirlit 




EVANS'S STEAM CAKIUAOE, THE -ORT-KTER AMRHIBOLOS" 

First ••autoinoliile" lo iiinke a JDUiney in this couiiti-.v and iierliaps the 

first sni-cessfiil sicaiii carriajje in tlie worlil 



Its Merchants and Its Story 143 

ing the Delaware river, was constructed by him to mn either upon 
land or through the water. Not only was this exhibition a successful 
demonstration of a horseless wagon, but later, when he attached a 
paddlewheel to the stern of this flat-bottom scow, and launced it into 
the Schuylkill river, he was able to steam down that water course to 
the Delaware and then run it as far up the river as Bristol. It was, 
as may be imagined, a historical moment in the armals of navigation, 
as well as the opening of a new motive force on the land. 

Evans was a native of Delaware, where he was born in 1755. He 
had known both Fitch and Rumsey, and he had given both of these 
men, whose names are connected with steam navigation, important ad- 
vice, which neither of them seemed inclined to follow. Before this he 
had invented what is now a widely known apparatus — a conveyor of 
buckets, run on an endless chain. He used this invention to elevate 
grain in flour mills, and when, in 1804-, the Board of Health of Phila- 
delphia contracted with him for a dredging machine, this system was 
found to be a part of the dredger. Even as a boy he had dreamed of 
constructing a wagon that would "go" by steam power, and when the 
contract for the dredger came to him he had the opportunity he long 
had sought to develop his several ideas. The endless chain, containing 
buckets at intervals, was used for the actual work of dredging. This 
was impelled by his steam engine, and in order to get this dredger to 
the river-^it weighed "the equal to 200 barrels of flour," which means 
about twenty tons — he decided to have it travel by its own power. The 
boat was 30 feet long and 12 feet broad. The engine is said to have 
been of five horsepower. Evans' own account of his trip from Ninth 
and Market streets to the river is of interest. 

"To show," he wrote, "that both steam carriages and steamboats were 
practicable (with my steam engine) I first put wheels to it and propelled 
it by the engine a mile and a half up Market street, and around Centre 
Square to the river Schuylkill. I then fixed a paddlewheel at the stern and 
propelled it by the engine down the Schuylkill and up the Delaware 16 
miles, leaving all the vessels that were under sail full half way behind me 
(the wind being ahead), although the application was so temporary as to 
produce friction, and the flat most lllyformed for sailing ; all of which was 
performed in the presence of thousands." 

While he was at Ninth and Market streets Evans constructed his 
first steam engine, which he named the Columbian, and after his exhibi- 
tion of his steam carriage he tried to interest the managers of the 
Lancaster Turnpike Company to have him construct similar, but better, 
vehicles for them by which freight could be carried along their turnpike, 
thus attempting to anticipate the modern tractors. They declined his 
proposition. While he had his place at Ninth and Market streets, 
Evans began the construction of steam engines at the Mars works at 
Nine and Vine streets. He became involved in a controversy with John 
Stevens, of Hoboken, who had insisted that Evans had stolen his steam 



144 Mabket Street, Philadelphia 

engine and steamboat idea from him, but in a suit which Evans later 
brought against Benjamin Chambers for infringement, Evans was suc- 
cessful. Evans made a great many improvements in milling machinery, 
and published several treatises for the guidance of millers and to ex- 
plain his steam engine and its application to horseless carriages and to 
steamboats. He was constantly appealing to Legislatures and to the 
courts for encouragement and to obtain redress for grievances and 
infringements on his invention. 

He was in New York in April, 1819, when some destructive youth 
set fire to his iron works at Ninth and Vine streets. The loss of 
valuable moldings and the monetary loss sustained broke his spirit, 
and he died within a few days, in his sixty-fourth year. Like many 
other inventors, he died poor. 

About twenty years after Evans left his place at the southeast 
corner of Ninth and Market streets, it was occupied by T. R. and A. R. 
Perkins as a dry goods store. The finn certainly was in business there 
in 1829 and remained until about 1856, when its successors, T. J. 
Perkins & Co., took the building just across the alley to the south of 
them. No. 9 South Ninth street. The house was long recognized as 
one of the reliable, conservative stores, making a specialty of mourn- 
ing goods. The business was discontinued in 1877, when the prop- 
erty was bought by Leary, Stuart & Co., who have made it a land- 
mark for the book hunter. Early in the last century the house, then 
No. 7, was occupied by Dr. William Aitken, but he was not long a 
resident there. 

For more than forty years the same familiar fagade, with its dress 
of monster signs, has remained, and while every book hunter refers 
to it as " Leary 's," everyone knows that it is owned by Edwin S. 
Stuart, who has been Councilman and Mayor of Philadelphia and 
Governor of Pennsylvania. There really was a Leary in the business 
once. Lideed, W. A. Leary, who founded the house in 1836 on North 
Second street, lived long enough to see the business expand to enormous 
proportions under the hand of his young successor. The elder Leary — 
for his son of the same name succeeded him — had been a porter in a 
hotel but decided to start in business for himself. Beginning modestly 
with a book stall, he soon took the store behind the stall, and in a little 
while editions of popular books were appearing with his imprint on 
their titles. All of them were perennially useful vohuues, such as 
"Ready Reckoners." He retired and his son took the business, but 
the youth he had trained, Edwin S. Stuart, remained. The store had 
been removed to Fifth and Walnut streets by that time, and the son 
dying, his young manager bought out the business. When the new 
post-office at Ninth and Market streets was about to be built, young 
Stuart decided Ninth and Market streets was a good location for an 




LEARY 5 -flWWiter-^ 



m-lij^^W;'^ 



■z^.^^ 



I.KAIJVS. XlX-Ill STKKK'I' SOITII OF ^lAltKKT 




rM\i;Ksri-i nr rKWsvi.VAXiA. mxtii s-ii;i;i:r sdi lii or .\iakki:i, is:!s 



Its Merchants and Its Story 145 

old-book store, and the Perkins property being for sale, it was acquired. 
Since that time the business has grown to enormous proportions from 
the judicious use of advertising. The strange feature of this — the cen- 
tral idea which has dominated the publicity and has been stamped on 
every advertisement of Leary's for the last forty years — is the simple 
phrase, "Books bought." Never a word about selling them. Natu- 
rally, Leary's have acquired more old books than any similar store in 
the country. 



CHAPTER XIX 

NINTH STREET TO ELEVENTH THE PRESIDENT'S HOUSE 

CAPTAIN ABRAHAM MARKOE PANORAMAS 

In 1795 there were so few buildings on Market street, west of Ninth, 
that there is a note in the directoiy of that year to say that they were 
not numbered, which was given as an excuse for omitting the names 
of residents of the street beyond that point. 

For almost half a century a hotel, or inn, stood at the northwest 
corner of Ninth and Market streets. The inn, long known as the Spread 
Eagle, seems to have been opened about the close of the War of 1812. 
For some years it was a stage house, and the stages that formerly left 
the corner of Eighth and Market streets for Harrisburg, Sunbury and 
Pittsburgh subsequently left from this corner. The Harrisburg stage 
left daily except Sunday, and the Pittsburgh stage went out every Tues- 
day and Friday mornings at four o'clock. After the house ceased to 
display the sign of the Spread Eagle, it became known as the Phila- 
delphia House, and was kept at that time — about the middle of the last 
century — by Bernard Mullen. It was a three-and-a-half-story struc- 
ture, with its entrance on Ninth street, which also was the bar entrance. 
The house was popular with the members of the theatrical profession, 
and nightly attracted many popular players, some of whom resided 
there. 

As we now are at Ninth street, it might be expected that some- 
thing were said of the Commons, which, by some curious chance, is 
believed by some good people to have been on the site of the post-office. 
One reason for this supposition is the rather unsupported assertion 
that it was from this land that Franklin, accompanied by his grandson, 
went to fly his kite and "draw the lightning from the clouds." It must 
be considei-ed that Franklin made this experiment about 1752, and at 
the time this locality, as has been before mentioned, is believed to have 
been covered with woods. The woods that remained east of Broad 
street during the British occupation of the city were cut down for fire- 
wood. After the Revolution this part of the city, and for many squares 
around it, was denuded of trees. 

The First City Troop as late as the opening years of the nineteenth 
century occasionally drilled on the Commons, which certainly then was 
within a few squares of Ninth and Market streets, but whether north 
or south of it is still a matter for argument, but to some who have 

146 



Its Mekchants and Its Stobt 147 

given the subject attention it seems certain they were at that time 
probably south and west of this corner. 

About two-thirds of the block bounded by Ninth, Tenth, Chestnut 
and Market streets was patented to Abraham Markoe, who was the first 
Captain of the First City Troop, in 1782-83. A strip, about 150 feet 
wide fronting on Market street, and extending along Ninth was patented 
to another but finally was forfeited to the State. A short distance west 
of Ninth, on the south side of Market street, Captain Markoe lived for 
many years, and certainly his mansion that was erected on this lot 
was occupied as early as 1785. There is a belief that it had been erected 
there about the time of the Revolution, in which Captain Markoe began 
to take a very active part, but, as will be seen, this did not last long. 
The southwest corner of the streets mentioned in 1801 was occupied 
by John Smith, a house carpenter. 

Markoe was one of several brothers who were engaged in the West 
Indian trade, principally in sugar and rum. They were natives of 
Denmark, and appear to have continued subjects of that country until 
the Revolution was at an end, at least. At the first sign of the neces- 
sity for a struggle, twenty-eight Philadelphia gentleman, Markoe 
among them, formed a troop of Light Horse, subsequently known as 
tbe First Troop, Philadelphia City Cavalry. Wliile the prime mover 
of the organization has not been discovered with certainty, there are 
evidences that Markoe was the real founder. It is said that so far 
as known he had no military training, but when the troop was organ- 
ized in 1774 he was at once elected captain. He designed, or at least 
presented to the troop, its standard, and the original is still preserved 
in its armory. This was in 1775, and from the fact that in one comer 
of the flag are thirteen stripes, alternate silver and blue, it has been 
suggested that our own Stars and Stripes may have been designed by 
adapting and altering these stripes in the City Troop's flag. If this 
theory is the correct one, the real designer of the flag, so long unknown, 
may have been Markoe himself. The suggestion is not offered without 
some grounds for belief, for it was the first American flag to have the 
thirteen stripes, but, of course, it contains no stars. 

Markoe, who was a native of Santa Cruz, now a possession of the 
United States, had come to this country when he was a very young man. 
He was bom in 1727, and the date of his arrival may have been about 
the middle of the eighteenth century. It is evident that he took a lively 
interest in the troop, but Denmark, having on October 4, 1775, issued 
an edict of neutrality. Captain Markoe, still owning property in Santa 
Cruz, which was in danger of confiscation, wisely resigned his command 
as soon as he heard the news, in 1776. It is said that he was present 
at the Battle of the Brandywine, but whether as soldier, which is un- 
likely, or as spectator, is not known. He went to Lancaster with a 



148 Maeket Street, Philadelphia 

large number of Philadelphians upon the coming of the British, and 
remained there until the evacuation of Philadelphia by the King's 
forces. He died in Philadelphia in 1806. 

During the latter years of the eighteenth century Philadelphians 
were accustomed in good weather to stroll out on a Sunday afternoon 
and take a look at two of the immense mansions that generally were 
regarded as follies. One of these was the extravagant and unfinished 
house which was being built for Robert Morris on the lot on Chestnut 
street between Seventh and Eighth, with which we are not now con- 
cerned, and the other was the spacious brick structure erected by the 
State of Pennsylvania for the President of the United States on the 
west side of Ninth street, a little south of Market. 

This is the building intended to have been the Executive Mansion, 
but which never was tenanted by either Washington or Adams, while 
they resided here as heads of the nation. It has been related that 
Washington would not reside in the building because of its size and 
the large expense needed to keep it open, but this, of course, is a mere 
legend that has no foundation in fact, for the building was not com- 
pleted during the administration of the first President. Adams, it is 
true, did not feel like occupying the vast building, which was almost the 
size of a palace, but it is likely that the commissioners who had the 
work in their charge would have been hard put at it had he desired 
to move there, for much difficulty was encountered in its completion. 

Fortunately, one of the commissioners appointed by the Legis- 
lature who was placed in charge of the work was Jacob Hiltzheimer, 
whose name will always be kindly remembered by all who desire to 
know something of local history during the last quarter of the eighteenth 
century, during which period he kept a most entertaining diary. Hiltz- 
heimer, who at this time lived at No. 1 South Seventh street, next to 
the comer of Market, in a house that was only removed about twenty- 
five years ago, was a prosperous horse merchant. He was one of the 
founders of the Gennan Society, was a member of the Legislature, and 
during the Revolution he was a member of the Committee of Safety. 
It was as a member of that body that he marched in procession from 
the Masons' Lodge to the State House yard on July 8, 1776, to hear 
John Nixon read the Declaration of Independence. But what has in- 
sured his fame in Philadelphia has been his diary. 

Soon after the seat of the National Government had been removed 
to this city, a movement was begun to erect a suitable mansion for 
the President. It was known that Washington was not entirely suited 
with his cramped quarters in the Morris House on Market street, for 
his official family as well as his immediate connections made a house- 
ful, but he had the best mansion in the city proper, and it also had the 
advantage of being convenient to the Congress Hall and to all de- 




,* -/. 



i - '^' 



- 1- r" 



Its Mebchants and Its Story 149 

partment headquarters, which in 1790 was worth considering, for 
neither highways nor means of conveyance were as good as they might 
have been. 

In August, 1790, the Common Council appointed a committee to 
consult with a member of the Assembly as to the method of raising 
funds for the erection of a "Federal House," as it then was called. 
There were other meetings, and finally the Assembly was appealed to 
to furnish an appropriate house for the President. The Legislature 
was liberal. It appropriated £20,000 for the purchase of a lot and the 
erection of a building. The Governor at the same time was authorized 
to borrow this sum. and the act provided that the lot should be pur- 
chased west of Ninth street. 

By a curious interpretation of this wording the lot at the south- 
west corner of Ninth and Market streets was bought for £5491 and 
from Captain Markoe, the ground adjoining on Ninth street, extending 
to Chestnut, was acquired for £1500. It is trae that the lot was on the 
west side of Ninth street, but it is a nice question if that location could 
be considered west of that thoroughfare. If that qiiestion ever was 
raised it does not appear, and certainly no serious opposition to the 
plan for that reason followed. 

The properties were purchased in the early part of the year 1792, 
and in April a party consisting of Governor Mifflin, Bichard Wills, 
Colonel Francis Gurney, Joseph Rakestraw and General Irvine visited 
the lot, and a short time later it was regulated. The commissioners 
responsible for the work on the stinicture consisted of Hiltzheimer, 
Eichard Wills and Colonel Gurney. Hiltzheimer from that time until 
the house finally was handed over as finished was accustomed to \"isit 
the work twice every day when he was in the city, and he has been 
careful to note the progress from time to time in his diary. 

The stone used in the mansion came from the quarries of Eobert 
Morris, and on May 10, 1792, the cornerstone was laid by Governor 
Mifflin and the three commissioners. "The Governor," notes Hiltz- 
heimer, "ordered $16 worth of drink, with bread and cheese, for the 
people present." 

The brick used in the structure came from several brick kilns. The 
stock brick cost £5 per 1000, and the common brick 32s. 6d. per 1000. 
By July 2d the cari^enters were putting down the first floor, and on July 
4th the operation was opened to admit "the artillery company to get 
in out of the rain until they fired the salute of fifteen guns in honor 
of Independence Day." When the first floor was finished the workers 
were given "a round of beef, ham and pimch to celebrate." On No- 
vember 6th President Washington read his annual message to Congress, 
and at noon on that day a salute of fifteen guns was fired at Ninth 
and Market streets "because the President delivered his message." 



150 Market Street, Philadelphia 

By December 1st the fourth floor and some of the rafters were put on 
the house, and Hiltzheimer notes that one hundred and eighty jDersons 
were at the raising supper, with Mayor Clarkson, Judge James Biddle 
and other worthies. 

Although considerable progi'ess seems to have been made on the 
house within a few months after the work had been started, the money 
for the purpose was soon exhausted. In completing his accounts in 
January, 1793, Hiltzheimer mentions that almost one million bricks had 
been used in the construction. In February it was estimated that 
£5000 were needed to finish the building. When he heard that report 
Mr. Gallatin rose in his place and offered a substitute for the report to 
the effect that the passage be made to read "to sell the house and lot 
in its present state." "This unreasonable motion," comments the 
diarist, "did not prevail, and £2500 were added to the £5000." 

In September, 1795, the work was again resumed, and twenty-three 
men were at work on the circular stairs alone. But the house still was 
incomplete. The following September the eagle which had been set 
up on the cupola had tp be removed and repaired, and finally, in No- 
vember, 1797, the commissioners examined and signed their accounts 
and lodged them with the Receiver General. The structure now was 
regarded as finished, but still it was empty. In 1798 what appears to 
have been the first use made of the house is noted in the diary. This 
was a meeting of a committee of the House of Representatives on a 
memorial praying for the incorporation of a company to build a bridge 
across the Delaware river at Trenton. 

The declination of President Adams to receive favors from the 
Pennsylvania Legislature left the handsome "Federal House" on the 
hands of the State, and just before the seat of government was removed 
to Washington, or in March, 1800, the building and ground were put 
up at auction and sold. Fortunately, the University of Pennsylvania, 
which had enlarged its scope, and required larger quarters than were 
being occupied on Fourth street below Arch, saw in the sale an oppor- 
tunity to buy a building more spacious than the one the institution 
occupied, and one that could be adapted for the purposes of an edu- 
cational institution. Had this not been the case the building probably 
would have been sold for the mere price of the lot, for it could not 
have been used for many purposes at that time. That is why the Uni- 
versity was able to get possession of the desirable property for less 
than half of what it had cost the State of Pennsylvania, or forty-one 
thousand six hundred and fifty dollars. The necessaiy alterations were 
made in the house, and the University moved in in 1802. The institu- 
tion remained there, subsequently rebuilding on the lot, until it was 
removed to West Philadelphia in 1872. Later the property was sold to 
the Federal Government for the present Post-office and Federal Build- 




IXIVKRSITY OF PKNXSYLVAXIA, XIXTH STREET SOUTH OF 

MARKET, 1S2'J 



The Iiislitiitidii inircliiisi'd tlic iiiiiised "I'l-fsidenrs Himse" 
in ISdU. iiiid added to it tlie wiiiir shown at tlie left. In IS'J'.t 
tlie liuildini: was removed and two strui-tures alike in de- 
sii;n were erected. One of these was devoted to the medical 
department. The site was vacated in 1S74. and the present 
I'ost Ollice Imilt npon it. 



Its Merchants and Its Stoby 151 

ing. This structure, which was long in the course of erection, was 
finally opened in March, 1884, although the United States Circuit Court 
had held a session in the building in January the same year, and a 
week later the Money Order Division of the Post-office began business. 

In 1785 there were no houses on the north side of Market street, 
between Ninth and Tenth, but on the south side of this square there 
seem to have been four residents. At or near the corner was John 
Whittle, and next to him Abraham Markoe. From Markoe's house to 
near Tenth street there were vacant lots, then came the house of Philip 
Rybout, and next to him Edward Turner. 

In 1791 the only resident of the square on the north side of the 
street was James Traquair, a stone cutter, whose yard was set down 
as near Tenth street. On the south side of the street at this time Markoe 
was still to be found, but the only other occupant of this side was John 
Miller, also a stone cutter, whose place of business was near Tenth 
street. 

When about sixteen years ago the late Thomas Martindale, who had 
long occupied the northeast corner of Tenth and Market streets as a 
grocery, was preparing to enlarge his store by taking in the building 
next door, he issued a little pamphlet giving some of the history of that 
corner, and the story deals with these two stone cutters, Traquair and 
Miller, who it appears became fast friends and partners, and then fell 
out and became just as firm enemies. There is no need to go into this 
history now, for it was entirely a private matter, and neither man 
seems to have been prominent outside of his business, but the history of 
the property is not without interest. It appears that the property 
originally was sold by Penn to John Furley, and in 1744 it passed into 
the hands of trustees of "the association of the late Doctor Bray, for the 
education of the negroes in the British plantations," and in 1786 Ben- 
jamin Franklin and Francis Hopkinsou, attorneys for the associates 
of Doctor Bray, sold a part of the land to James Traquair and John 
Miller. 

The lot thus sold is said to have been forty feet wide on Market 
street, and to have extended back one hundred and six feet. In 1792 
Traquair and Miller divided their lot, and by mutual consent the corner 
lot was to have a width of eighteen feet and the next one to have twenty- 
two feet front. They drew lots, and the corner fell to Traquair, who 
in 1801 erected a three-and-a-half-story residence there. Miller next 
door erected a building with a marble front, which is now painted. 

Additional interest has been given to the building which stood on 
the corner until 1902, from the fact that in the back second story of 
that house about the middle of the last century an amateur dramatic 
association that was favorably known here, and called The Boothean, 
in honor of the elder Booth, held forth. This organization at one time 



152 Makket Street, Philadelphia 

gave its performances in the old Assembly Buildings, at Tenth and 
Chestnut streets, and the amateurs also occupied rooms in other parts 
of the city in later years. One of the young actors who is said to have 
been a member of this organization was John McCuUough, who became 
famed as a tragedian on the American stage. 

"While we are on this side of Market street we should not neglect 
one who for forty years was one of the best-known residents in the 
square. This was Joseph J. Mickley, who sold pianos and musical 
instruments generally at 927. In many ways Mr. Mickley, in his love 
for music and for little art objects, coins, etc., resembled the Cousin 
Pons of Balzac. In some measures, too, he was just such another genial, 
simple man as the French romancer's hero. Mr. Mickley nearly always 
had at his house of an evening a group of fellow enthxisiasts. They 
came with introductions from various parts of the country, for the 
fame of his collections, especially his coin collection, had been spread. 
He had collections of autographs, of historical documents, manuscripts, 
books and prints and musical instruments. The amateurs in those lines 
were glad of an opportunity of seeing "Daddy" Mickley 's treasures, 
and Mr. Mickley always was just as delighted to exhibit his choice 
possessions. 

Unfortunately, some of the so-called amateurs who visited him not 
only sequestered three of his most valued gold coins, but they are be- 
lieved to have organized a burglary which resulted one night in Mr. 
Mickley losing all of his collection of foreign coins, which was regarded 
as one of the best in this country. The value of the coins taken is said 
to have been more than nineteen thousand dollars. It was a sad blow 
to the old collector, but, while he was deeply affected by the loss, he 
lived for eleven years afterward. 

Bom in Lehigh County in 1799, Mr. Mickley came to Philadelphia 
as a lad and learned the trade of pianomaker. In 1822 he started in 
business for himself, and in 1831 the Franklin Institute awarded him 
a prize for his skill in manufacturing pianos. For the first twenty years 
he was in business his store was at 67 North Third street, and in 1842 
he removed to 927 Market street, where he remained until he retired 
from business in 1869. It has been said that although he learned the 
trade of pianomaking, he never actually manufactured, but was a lover 
of music, and until almost the end of his days was accustomed to tune 
pianos for his old customers and friends. The robbery, which occurred 
in 1867, turned the old collector's thoughts to other things. He was 
then nearing his seventieth year, and when he did reach seventy he 
retii'ed, and made arrangements for a tour of Europe. For the next 
four years he spent his time in Sweden, Denmark and other countries, 
studying the documents that threw light upon the Swedish occupation 
of the Delaware. When he was seventy, he began the study of the 



Its Meechakts and Its Stoey 153 

Swedish language that he might be in position to properly carry on his 
researches in the foreign libraries. 

In Stockholm he found a paper by Peter Minuit, which was written 
in a language which none in the libraiy could translate. Mr. Mickley 
desired a translation, hut he could not remove the paper, so he had 
several copies of it made, and these he sent to as many professors in 
various European universities, and then, in the course of his tour, went 
around and collected the translations. From the material he collected 
on this tour he pre^iared an interesting history of the Swedes on the 
Delaware which he read before the Historical Society of Pemisylvania 
upon his return. Mr. Mickley died in his eightieth year, in 1878, but 
not on Market street, which property he left permanently when he 
began his European trip. 

MacPherson's Directory for 1785 announces on its title that it con- 
tains the names of residents only as far westward as Tenth street, and 
on Market street the residential poiiion certainly did not extend much 
farther west in that year. There was little in this square to interest 
us until ten years after that year. In 1795 Edward Savage, an able 
painter and engraver, exhibited a panorama, the first ever seen in this 
city, in a circular building on Market street between Tenth and 
Eleventh. This panorama, which was painted by Savage, depicted the 
city of London, and for some time attracted great attention. The 
building afterward was used for other purposes, and it is said to have 
been demolished by the fall of its roof in the winter of 1805, when the 
weight of snow was too great for the supports, and the structure was 
crushed. 

Eight in this block, too, in a building which still stands at 1008 and 
1010, George W. Kendrick, an ancestor of the Receiver of Taxes, kept 
the White Horse, a farmers' hotel, about fifty years ago. This probably 
was the same house in which, in 1801, Justice Thomas Smith resided. 

Justice Smith, who was a half-brother of the Rev. Dr. William 
Smith, the first provost of the University of Pennsylvania, although a 
man of great ijrominence, especially in the western part of the State 
in the last half of the eighteenth century, is all but unknown today. A 
few years ago his fame was refreshed by a biography written by Dr. 
Burton A. Konkle, which revealed to the majority of readers an entirely 
new personage. He was born in Scotland and came to this country in 
1769. He went to the frontier of the State soon after his arrival to 
become deputy surveyor, and a few years later Governor John Penn ap- 
pointed him Justice of the Court of Common Pleas of Bedford Comity. 
In 1794 he was appointed an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court 
of Pennsylvania, and remained upon the Supreme bench until his death 
in 1809. He was then sixty-four years of age. His remains were in- 
terred in the graveyard of Christ Church. 



154 Market Street, Philadelphia 

In the early part of the last century John Struthers, a young 
Scotchman, who learned the profession of architect under William 
Strickland in this city, and received some practical experience in archi- 
tecture and building by assisting in the erection of the Second Bank of 
the United States, now the Custom House, had his marble yard and his 
residence on the south side of Market street between Tenth and 
Eleventh. In those days Struthers' residence was 358 and his marble 
works next door at 360. When the numbers were changed in 1857, 360 
became 1022, which is on the eastern end of the site of the New Bingham 
Hotel. 

Struthers was very successful, and in 1822, when it was decided to 
remove Washington's remains from their original resting place to a 
newly constructed vault at Mount Vernon, he designed and erected at 
his own expense the new vault, which still contains the remains of the 
first President. He had many large marble contracts, and his son 
William, who succeeded him, had the contract for nearly all the marble 
and stone work of the City Hall. Struthers removed his works from 
Market street below Eleventh to the western part of the city in the 60 's. 

In the back part of the remnant of the old Struthers works on 
Market street the sculptor, Joseph A. Bailly, a French artist, who was 
in business here from early in the 50 's until his death about thirty-five 
years ago, had his studio, after he moved from Eighth and Jayne 
streets, and after Struthers vacated his premises Bailly 's studio was 
in the back part of the Market street lot, and his entrance was from 
the small street between Chestnut and Market streets, then called 
Marble alley. Bailly was the sculptor of the Washington statue which 
stood in front of Independence Hall until its removal to the City Hall 
a few years ago. He also carved the statue of Franklin which stands 
on the corner of the Public Ledger Building, and which originally stood 
over the entrance to the Franklin Market at Tenth street below Market. 
This building was afterwai'd occu])ied bj' the Mercantile Library. He 
was an artistic sculptor as well as a commercial artist, and at least 
one of his works is to be found in the collections of the Academy of 
the Fine Arts. 

At the southeast corner of Eleventh and Market streets is what 
may be called the oldest hotel in this city, for it has been almost con- 
tinuously a public house for the last hundred years. Thomas Leiper, 
to whom we alluded in a previous chapter, is said to have been the capi- 
talist who erected the original building in 1812. At least a part of the 
original structure remains, but the house has been materially altered 
and enlarged, and it takes a keen eye to detect where there is anything 
remaining of the hotel built 106 years ago. Leiper, who was not a 
hotelkeeper himself, but a tobacconist, who made a fortune in snuff, 
and who owned quarries near the city, selected William Kenshaw, who 




ri:.\.\SVI.\ AXIA UAlLUOAll STATION A.\l> IXITKI) STATES IIOTKI., Isr.:: 
These were at the southeast cunier of l^leveiith ami Market sli-eets 




JOHN STIMTIIIOIIS 
lie coiislnicted at his own exjiense Ihe 
Wasliinstoii vault at Jit. Veriion 



Its Merchants and Its Story 155 

had kept the old mansion of William Bingham, at Third and Spruce 
streets, as a hotel, to manage the new house, which was called the New 
Mansion House. It is declared that this was the first large hotel in the 
city to be erected for that use, but in 1812 it must have required some 
courage to plant a hotel so far west as Eleventh street. However, Ren- 
shaw took the house and ran it for four years, when he returned to 
Third and Spruce streets and reopened the Bingham Mansion as the 
Washington Hotel, next to which he erected Washington Hall. 

After Eenshaw left Eleventh and Market streets the house was 
unoccupied, and in 1823 the newly instituted Pennsylvania Asylum for 
the Deaf and Dumb was located in the Mansion House. Within a few 
years the institution had its own buildings at Broad and Pine streets, 
and in 1825 it left Eleventh and Market streets to occupy them. It was 
while the asylum was on Market street that Albert Newsam, the deaf 
and dumb artist, was admitted there and received his education. The 
original Mansion House at Eleventh and Market streets was a large, 
three-and-a-half-story structure, with a wide entrance on Market street. 
After it had ceased to house the institution for the deaf and dumb the 
building became a fashionable boarding house, and about 1836 con- 
siderable addition was made to it along Eleventh street, and once more 
it was called the New Mansion House. 

When Matthew Newkirk combined the three roads, which became 
known as the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, in 
1842, the properties next to the Mansion House on Market street and 
on Eleventh street were secured, and the company erected its first depot 
in this city. This depot was the only one the company owned here until 
the completion of the brown-stone station at Broad and Prime streets, 
now Washington avenue, ten years later. Then in 1854 the Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad secured the old depot at Eleventh and Market streets, 
and occujiied it for passengers and freight for several years, and later 
for freight only. It was partly used for ti'affic until the first few years 
of the 70 's, although most of the business had been transferred to 
Fifteenth and Market streets, but about 1876 the last of the tracks were 
taken up on Market street east of Broad. 

With the advent of a railroad depot next to it, a new career was 
opened for the old hotel. Considerable alteration was made in its 
api^ea ranee at that time, and a spacious double-decked porch extended 
across the Market street front of the building. The whole building was 
altered just after the Civil War, during which period the house bore 
the name of the United States Hotel. It appears that the name later 
given the hotel, the Bingham House, was not derived from Senator 
William Bingham, but from John Bingham, an early express and 
freight agent, who had associations with the Philadelphia, Wilmington 
and Baltimore Railroad, and who had his place of business on the 



156 Market Street, Philadelphia 

premises. The whole house has been transformed during tlie last 
fifteen years, and the New Bingham Hotel bears very little likeness to 
the original Mansion House of a centuiy ago. 

We already have had something to say of the first panorama ex- 
hibited in this city, which was shown on Market street by Savage, and 
in this connection it is interesting to note that another panorama was 
exhibited in this neighborhood not many years after Savage's building 
was demolished. Daniel Bowers in 1816 erected a circular building on 
the east side of Eleventh street, just north of Market, specially designed 
for the showing of what later became known as cycloramas. The first 
picture shown was a panorama of New Haven, Conn. This was ex- 
hibited in 1817, when it is presumed the structure was finished. 

It is evident that Bowers received some encouragement for the 
same year he put in a panorama of Philadelphia by James Kudder, 
an American painter, and the following year Marquis' panorama for 
Paris was shown in this building. It in turn was followed in the same 
year by a much-heralded panorama of the Battle of Paris. This was 
eighteen feet in height and one hundred and fifty feet long, and the 
claim was made for it in the advertisements that it showed one hundred 
and fifty thousand soldiers engaged in battle. Thotnas Aston Barker, 
the painter of this panorama, which had been successfully shown in 
London before being brought to Philadelphia, was a son of Robert 
Barker, an Edinburgh artist, who was the inventor of this form of 
picture. It is evident that the Battle of Paris was successful, for in 
1819 Barker's panorama of the Battle of Waterloo, which is said to 
have contained two thousand four hundred and forty square feet of 
painted canvas, was shown in this building on Eleventh street. 

Bowers' panorama building remained open until 1821, and, in ad- 
dition to the paintings already mentioned, there was exhibited a pan- 
orama of the Palace and Gardens of Versailles, painted by the American 
painter, John Vanderlyn, from sketches made by the New York painter 
himself. Bowers afterwards became the proprietor of the Boston 
Museum. 

This panorama building, however, was not the second or even third 
structure of the kind erected in this city. Strangely enough all of them 
were either on Market street or close to that thoroughfare. The second 
panorama structure was that which was put on the north side of Market 
street, between Eleventh and Twelfth, in 1805, and in it was shown 
a panorama of the Battle of Lodi. This remained on exliibition for 
six months, when it was succeeded by another, the subject of which 
was the Battle of Alexandria. This was painted by Robert Ker Porter, 
and is said to have had an area of six thousand squax'e feet of canvas. 
Great stress was laid in the advertisements on the fact that in the fore- 
ground were to be found the correct portraits of more than ninety 



^^t:iKER's Panorarna, 



l< 






^^.sx 



,.<^-i^^. 



"«?/> 







- - v..^^» 



ADVEItTlSKMlOXT I'.AltKEIi TSEIi IX LONDON' 
His ijanoi-ania was slmwii at Hleveiitli ami .Market streets in Isis 



Its Merchants and Its Story 157 

British, officers. Afterwards there was shown there a View of Balti- 
more. The building was removed in 1809. 

In those days there was almost as deep-rooted a craze for pan- 
oramas as there is at present for moving pictures. There was very 
little offered for the recreation of Philadelphians, aside from the per- 
formances at the old Chestnut Street Theatre, or at one or another 
of the circuses, for nearly every winter there was at least one circus 
in the city. In addition to these rather tame forms of entertainment, 
there also were the concerts and the visits of occasional human or 
animal "freaks." Consequently the panoramas and later the dia- 
ramos, as they came to be called, afforded a new sensation for the 
intellectual Philadelphians of the time. 



CHAPTER XX 

ELEVENTH STREET TO TWELFTH, AND TWELFTH STREET TO THIRTEENTH 

JOHN DUNLAP'S HOUSE AND ITS DISTINGUISHED OCCUPANTS 

RICKETTS' CIRCUS NATIONAL HALL 

The square from Eleventh street to Twelfth and from Market 
street to Chestnut was first improved by John Dunlap, who erected a 
mansion at the southeast corner of Twelfth and Market streets in 
1790. There is a view of this historic mansion that shows it nicely- 
framed in rows of ti'ees and very attractive in appearance. Dunlap 
did not occupy the whole of this large lot, but on Twelfth street, below 
his mansion, were two other houses which he rented. Dunlap was one 
of the subscribers to the loan to build the first water works, in 1801, 
and from the report of the Water Committee we learn that he received 
water free of rent for three houses on this lot. It should be added, 
however, that he paid twenty-four dollars a year rent for the fountain 
in his garden. 

Dunlap, like many others whom we have mentioned in our walk 
out Market street, was a prominent man in Philadelphia in his day. 
He acquired a large fortune as a printer and publisher, and was in 
every way a useful citizen and a devoted patriot. He was born in 
1747 in Ireland, and seems to have come to this country as a mere lad, 
for he was apprenticed to his uncle, William Dunlap, a printer and 
publisher here. In 1771 he began the publication on his own account 
of the Pennsylvania Packet, and in 1784 transformed it into a daily, 
the first daily newspaper to be issued in this countrj^. He was ap- 
pointed printer to the Continental Congress, and had the honor of 
printing the official copy of the Declaration of Independence, which, 
after it had been signed by Hancock, as President of Congress, was 
sent to the heads of the original states. An active member of the 
First City Troop, of which he became captain, he went with the organi- 
zation to Trenton and PrincMon as bodyguard to Washington. 

It does not appear that the mansion at Twelfth and Market Streets 
was occupied by Dunlap until 1797. Its first tenant appears to have 
been Edmund Randolph, of whom we have sjjoken in a former chapter. 
The house generally was regarded as the finest in the city, and had 
for its tenants some of the foremost personages in Philadelphia. West- 
cott has given a list of them, and to repeat this list is to prove the 
assertion of the character of its occupants. 

158 




sdiiiiiOAsi' ((luxi:!; of twelfth and .\iAKKi;r 

S'lT'.KF.TS. ISdO 

liesiiloiicc (if .Tiilin I>uiil;i|i. .Tosei)h F.nii:iii.irlc' nml (iIIht 
(lisl iii;;iiisli(>il iX'i'Siius 







,. ■■'/*>^ 




JOII.X DTXLAl- 

ililier. editor, iiiul iiriuter of tlie lirst daily 
uowsiiaiicr in tlie T'nited States 




■.yj. Sdl'lll 'IWKLFTII STKKK'l'. AVIIKKK ROBERT MORRIS DIED, ISOU 



This is tlie site of the Cumiuoinvculth Title 
aiicl Tnist C(>iii|irtiiy Kuildliis. When the sreat 
hniiiuier lived here it was luimberecl 2. 



Its Merchants and Its Story 159 

After Randolph left the house it became the French Legation. In 
1792 Chevalier Jean de Temant occupied it, and the following year 
the celebrated and notorious Citizen Genet was its tenant. Then in 
turn Joseph Fauchet, as French Minister, lived there, and his successor, 
for they were changed frequently in those stirring days of the French 
Revolution, was M. Adet, who lived there in 1795. Dunlap moved in 
in 1797 and lived there until the time of his death, in 1812. 

In 1815 the residence was occupied by Baron de Kantzow, Minister 
from Sweden. In 1817 Joseph Bonaparte, the Count de Survilliers, 
ex-King of Spain, was there, and in 1824 the house sheltered Charles 
Lucien Bonaparte, Prince of Canine and Mussigiiano, son of Lucien 
Bonaparte, with his wife. Princess Zenaide Charlotte Julie, daughter 
of Joseph Bonaparte. Dr. John Y. Clark, husband of Baroness Lalle- 
mand, a niece of Stephen Girard, with that lady, occupied the house 
in 1825. 

It was about that time that Girard bought the entire square, and 
it is said that his first intention was to have erected his college for 
orphan boys on this property. But not long before his death he pur- 
chased the estate on the Ridge road, where his famous institution finally 
was erected. In 1834, after this property had passed to the city in 
trust, the corner property at Twelfth and Market streets rented for 
$708 a year. Rentals are a little higher in this locality now, and a 
stand on the corner would bring in more than was then given for the 
finest mansion in the city. While yellow fever was epidemic in Phila- 
delphia in 1797 the Post-office was located in Dunlap 's stable. In 1798, 
when the fever again was a plague here, the Post-office was located in 
a building on the north side of Market street above Eleventh. The 
block is now occupied by the department store of N. Snellenburg & Co. 

Westcott notes that south of Dunlap 's house, on Twelfth street, 
were two other dwellings, in one of which, he says, Paul Busti a mer- 
chant, of whom we shall have occasion to refer to a little later, 
lived, and in the other, he states, Robert Morris, the financier of the 
Revolution, lived and died. This note to Morris appears to be erro- 
neous, for when he died, in 1806, he dwelt at 2 South Twelfth street, 
and that, of course, was on the opposite side of the street. As a matter 
of fact in 1806 No. 2 South Twelfth was quite near to Chestnut 
street, and the building was standing there until 1901, when the Com- 
monwealth Title and Trust Company erected its office building on the 
site. It then bore the number 32. 

At the southwest corner of Twelfth and Market streets, in 1792, 
John B. Ricketts opened a riding academy. His announcement in 
Dunlap 's Daily Advertiser mentioned that he was lately from London, 
and "respectfully acquaints the public that he has erected at a very 
considerable expense a circus, where he purposes instructing ladies and 



160 Market Street, Philadelphia 

gentlemen in the elegant accomplishment of riding." According to 
the advertisement the circus was opened on October 25th, and a note 
advises that the gentlemen's hours for instruction were from 8 to 11 
in the morning and the ladies from 11 to 2. In addition to his riding 
academy Ricketts also conducted a circus, and seems to have abandoned 
his original intention of maintaining only a school. The circus became 
an almost instant success. Its respectability was assured when Presi- 
dent Washington appeared there one evening. After that every night 
there was a performance there were from 600 to 700 persons in the 
audience. 

Ricketts is said to have been a pupil of Hughes, who was proprietor 
of the circus near Blackfriars Bridge, London, and was generally con- 
ceded by his contemporaries to have been the best man in his line of 
business to come to this country. Accompanying Ricketts was a 
younger brother, Master Francis Ricketts, who became an excellent 
rider and tumbler. 

He was the most extraordinary equestrian who had come to this 
country up to the close of the eighteenth century. His feats of horse- 
manship and daring acrobatic exercises were duly appreciated by Phila- 
delphians who were properly amazed and delighted with his wonders. 
Says one contemporary account of his performance : 

His leaping over ten horses — riding with a boy on his shoulder in the 
attitude of a Mercury — going through the manual exercise with a firelock — 
dancing a hornpipe on the saddle, the horse being in full speed, &c., &c. In 
short, the Circus has been esteemed amongst the first amusements met with 
in this truly astonishing Metropolis. 

Mr. Ricketts also found a place in the hearts of the inliabitants 
by freely giving charity benefits for the relief of the fugitives from the 
West India insurrection, for the fuel fund for the poor ; and as a result 
his circus was the most popular, as it was the most sensational amuse- 
ment in the city. 

Ricketts' riding academy also proved successful in its early stage, 
and it numbered among its pupils Robert Morris, the financier, who 
took a lively interest in equestrian exercises. Ricketts had a good 
company, and for a time the circus was a riding school by day and a 
circus in the evening. The circus seems to have been first opened in 
the spring of 1793, and in 1795 Ricketts removed from Twelfth and 
Market streets to Sixth and Chestnut streets, where he erected a larger 
and finer circus on the site now covered by the Ledger Building. 

In 1859 and 1860, when there was a general movement throughout 
the city, or at least in the central part of it, toward the erection of 
new and modem markets, owing to the removal of the sheds in the 
middle of the street, two large market houses were erected on the 
north side of Market street between Eleventh and Twelfth. One of 








MTKTCXTiTT.5 



AX K(iri:STKlA.\ FEAT UV .\1K. UK'KKTTS 




TIVOLI (OK COLUMBIAN) CARDKX, ivj- 



Its Merchants and Its Stoky 161 

these, the first to be started, was about in the middle of the square. 
This was called the Farmers' Market, and was regarded as the finest, 
as it was the largest mai'ket shed of its kind in the city. Next to this, 
at the corner of Twelfth street, was erected the Franklin Mai'ket, but 
it always was referred to by old housekeepers as the Twelfth Street 
Market. The Franklin Market Company had originally put up a hand- 
some building on Tenth street between Market and Chestnut, but 
this stnicture was never used for its designed purpose, and was sold 
to the Mercantile Library Company. The latter has ever since occupied 
the building, which was altered to suit the purposes of a library. 

About 1890 the long-expected move of the Reading Eailroad to a 
more central site for its station was arranged by the company providing 
to ran its lines from Ninth and Green streets down to Twelfth and 
Market streets. 

It is rather curious that in this very praiseworthy action, which 
meant an increase in railway facilities for Philadelphia, the corpora- 
tion should have met with considerable opposition. The principal rea- 
son for the opposition seems to have originated among persons who 
believed that the company should not be allowed to construct an ele- 
vated structure, but should come down to Market street under ground. 
The whole question was discussed at numerous meetings, and it was 
shown that this suggestion was impracticable, and also rather costly. 
Finally the company received the necessary permission by ordinance, 
and the work of elevating the Reading began. The Reading Terminal 
was finally built, and was first opened for traffic on January 20, 1893. 
It was the begimiing of improvements all along Market street east of 
Twelfth, and no more was heard of the opposition to an elevated 
structure. 

In that first plan of the city of Philadelphia, prepared by Holme 
for Penn, and which the Founder of Pennsylvania appears to have 
approved on his first visit, Twelfth street is named Broad, and bisects 
the town almost exactly in the middle. The intersection of Twelfth 
and High (or Market) streets is laid out in a square, and as this was 
virtually the centre of the city, the plot was naturally called by the 
inhabitants Centre square. On this first plan, or "platform" as it was 
called, only Broad and High streets were named and Twelfth street's 
original name was Broad. 

There is a letter of Robert Turner, one of the first purchasers and 
settlers in Philadelphia, to Penn, bearing date of August 3, 1685, in 
which he infoiTQS the proprietary that 

we are now laying the foundation of a new brick meeting house in the 
Centre (60 feet long and about 40 feet broad), and hope to soon have it up, 
there being many hearts and hands at work that will do it. A large meeting 
house, 50 feet long and 38 broad, also is going up in the front of the river 
for an evening meeting. 



162 Mabket Street, Philadelphia 

There is a difference of belief as to the exact location of the Centre 
Meeting House. On the one side, judging from Holme's plan, there are 
those who believe that this structure was erected near Twelfth and 
Market streets, while others insist that by that time Broad street had 
been "moved" to its present location, and that consequently the brick 
meeting went up on the site of the present City Hall. From any point 
of view either location must have been inconvenient for the settlers 
residing in Philadelphia, for the settlement lay along the banks of the 
Delaware, although it had been imagined that the town would grow 
along the banks of both rivers, and thus the Centre Meeting would 
be really a central assembly room for the whole city. At the time 
Broad and Market streets was reached by a rough cartway, or road, 
and part of the distance between the Delaware and Broad street lay 
through woods. It is said that on a Sunday morning when the Friends 
would travel out to the Centre Meeting they would frequently disturb 
wild tui'keys and even deer. 

Just when the name Broad street was given to the fourteenth street 
from the Delaware cannot be ascertained with any accuracy, but it 
must have been at a very early day in the history of the city, and may 
have been done by Penn himself while he was here. As the plan was 
published in 1683, it seems probable that the change from Twelfth 
street to Fourteenth was made subsequent to that year. It has been 
contended that the present Friends' Meeting on Twelfth street, which 
was erected in 1812, stands on the site of the original Centre Meeting 
House, but it will be seen that this is purely a supposition and can be 
traced to the Holme plan of the city. 

We find but little to interest us in the square from Twelfth street 
to Thirteenth on Market. On the south side, near Thirteenth street, 
stood National Hall, a structure which was mainly noted for the aboli- 
tion meetings which were held there. The hall was opened in the early 
50 's, and was the scene of many mass meetings, fairs and similar efforts 
to add to the gaiety of nations. During the Civil War there were fre- 
quent meetings, concerts and fairs held there, and in 1866 a convention 
of Southern Loyalists was opened on September 3d. Probably the 
greatest excitement ever seen in the hall was on the occasion of an 
Abolitionsists' meeting to protest against the hanging of John Brown 
in 1859. It was an historic occasion and excitement was very high 
throughout the city, in which there were a large number of Southern 
sympathizers as well as Abolitionists. It seems that a large number 
of the former attended the mass meeting, which ended almost in a riot. 

The arrest of Brown also was discussed at a meeting held at 
National Hall on October 28, 1859. On that occasion Joshua R. Gid- 
dings, a venerable Abolitionist, told of the relation he had sustained 
toward the erratic leader of the Harper's Ferry raid. The hanging 







— -~ ^ 



Its Meechants and Its Story 163 

of Brown, however, was too much for the Abolitionists. They were 
not only indig-nant, but they insisted upon expressing themselves in 
no uncertain or guarded manner. A meeting was held at National Hall 
on December 2d. The call had gone out, and the whole city was in a 
ferment of excitement. James Mott presided, and there were present 
on the platform Lucretia Mott, Theodore Tilton, Mary Grew and 
Robert Purvis. The speakers were all allowed to proceed in silence 
until Pui-\'is arose to address the meeting, and then the storm of hisses 
which greeted him revealed the presence of a large pro-Southern con- 
tingent. For some minutes he was not able to speak for the noise 
and din. Finally the disturbers became tired and then he began his 
address, which was a rather remarkable one, and did not tend to pacify 
the pro-Southern element. His allusion to Brown as a man "who 
would be looked upon as the Jesus Christ of the nineteenth century," 
set the meeting on fire again. The uproar continued until Chief 
Euggles, with a detail of policemen, appeared, when the meeting was 
allowed to adjourn. 

National Hall, in the sunomer of 1873, was transformed into a 
theatre, which at that time was said to have the largest stage in the 
city outside of the Academy of Music. The New Olympic Theatre, 
as it was called, was devoted to vaudeville, and had the old actor and 
dramatist, James Pilgrim, for stage manager. The career of the house 
was very brief, for between 2 and 3 o'clock on the morning of January 
29, 1874, the entire structure was burned by a fire of unknown origin. 
Two firemen lost their lives when the rear wall fell. 

National Hall, and later the Olympic Theatre, occupied the prop- 
erties 1224 to 1228 Market street, and the ground floor was devoted to 
business purposes. The theatre never was rebuilt, but an iron front 
building was put up on the site by Croft, Wilbur & Allen, candy manu- 
facturers. 

While we are in the square between Twelfth and Thirteenth streets 
some note should be made of David Landreth, who was a resident in 
1801, but whose seed farm was on Gray's Ferry road. He was one of 
the founders of the Horticultural Society. He founded the business in 
1784. 

The square on Market street between Twelfth and Thii-teenth was 
the scene of one of the most disastrous fires in the history of the city. 
On the morning of October 25, 1901, fire was discovered in the large 
building of Hunt, Wilkinson & Co., 1219 and 1221, and with a rapidity 
that was extraordinary the flames mounted from floor to floor. Within 
a few minutes after the fire had been discovered the whole upper part 
of the building was in flames. There were many customers and em- 
ployes on these upper floors, and they found themselves hemmed in. 
Some of the victims, who numbered more than twenty, met a ter- 



164 Market Street, Philadelphia 

rible death by burning on the fire escapes, and others, terror stricken 
and confronted by death in fearful form on either side, jumped from 
the windows, only to be crushed on the sidewalk. A Coroner's jury 
held in November of that year was unable to discover the cause of the 
fire, but made a number of recommendations for the better protection 
of life in large stores. The Franklin Institute, on account of the several 
disastrous fires then fresh in the public mind, appointed a committee 
to investigate the "recent disasters by fire and explosions." 




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CHAPTEE XXI 

THIRTEENTH STREET TO BROAD FREIGHT STATION OF PENNSYLVANIA 

RAILROAD TRAGEDIES CONNECTED WITH THE SQUARE 

TIVOLI GARDEN 

At Thirteenth street, on the site of the Wanamaker store, the 
Pennsylvania Railroad maintained a freight depot until 1874. The 
building had been erected in 1853, at which period the passenger depot 
or station was at the northeast corner of Eighteenth and Market streets. 
The freight station was abandoned in 1874, when the business was 
transferred to the Dock street station. The building of the City Hall, 
which hastened the removal of steam railroad tracks from both Market 
and Broad streets, made the change necessary, although the business 
of the company would have compelled the change within a few years 
at most. 

During the Civil War the freight station was the scene of much 
activity. It was a kind of rendezvous for regiments on their way to 
the front, and many commands were entrained there for the South. 
The station also was used to store and distribute ammunition. 

After the railroad company removed from the old sheds at Thir- 
teenth street, the Franklin Institute held its largest and most impor- 
tant exhibition in the old buildings. This exhibition was held in honor 
of the fiftieth anniversary of the Institute, and great preparations were 
made for the show, which was the largest and most interesting fair of 
its kind that had been given in this city up to that time. 

Philadelphians had not ceased talking about the Franklin Institute 
exhibition before they received a new surprise. It became known that 
John Wanamaker had purchased the property. However, while Mr. 
Wanamaker was negotiating for it with Thomas A. Scott, the president 
of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, a party of gentlemen had been 
making arrangements with the evangelists. Moody and Sankey, then 
holding revivals in Brooklyn, to come to this city. This party consisted 
of Joshua L. Baily, George H. Stuart and Alexander Whilldin, and 
later there was a preliminary committee of which Mr. Stuart was chair- 
man, to make arrangements for the evangelists who had consented to 
hold revivals here. 

The committee discovered that there was no suitable large struc- 
ture in which to hold the services, but it occurred to Mr. Stuart that 
the abandoned freight depot might serve the purpose. When the com- 

165 



166 Market Street, Philadelphia 

mittee went to President Scott they learned that the negotiations for 
the sale of the property had proceeded so far that it would be necessary 
to apply to Mr. Wanamaker for the necessary permission to use the 
old structure. Mr. Wanamaker was then in London, but the committee 
cabled him and got his consent to use the buildings for three months 
for a rental of $1. 

Moody and Sankey held a series of services during three months 
that had never before been paralleld in this city. Sankey 's hymns 
were sung everj'where and became so popular that many of them were 
parodied. All of them were tuneful, and many of them inspiring. 
Moody was a powerful speaker and held the attention of his congrega- 
tions such as no other evangelist had done before him, with the single 
exception of Whitefield. During the three months the city was talking 
of nothing else but the evangelists, and nearly every person felt it 
necessary to attend at least one service. The services iDegan November 
21, 1875, and ended January 28, 1876. 

In those days there was not the same attention to the protection 
of life in public assemblies as there is now, and it would astonish those 
who in recent years attend the services of Billy Sunday to learn that 
when Moody and Sankey held their revivals here no person was per- 
mitted to leave the building after the service had begun until after it 
was ended. The doors were guarded, if not locked, and at times there 
were as many as 13,000 persons in attendance. 

Mr. Wanamaker desired to have his big store ready for the Cen- 
tennial crowds, and within a few minutes after the last hymn had been 
sung in the last of the Moody and Sankey meetings he had a small 
army of workmen ready to begin the alterations which were to trans- 
form the old freight station into a Grand Depot. The big store was 
opened on May 6, 1876, but none of the original structure now remains, 
having been supplanted by the immense granite building now on the 
site. 

On the Juniper street side of the Wanamaker store site were 
several structures of more or less historical importance. Nearest 
Chestnut street stood the Pennsylvania State Arsenal for many years, 
and next to it on the north was erected the first Central High School 
for Boys. It took Pennsylvania a long time to get under way in its 
efforts to install a system of public instruction. The first attempts 
were very modest, indeed, and only the poorest of parents would allow 
their children to attend these "pauper" or "ragged" schools, as they 
were somewhat contemptuously termed. 

It is more than probable that the publication of the will of Stephen 
Girard gave the gentlemen responsible for the education of the children 
of the State an entirely new idea on the subject, and caused them to 
turn on another tack. This was accomplished by acts of the Legislature 




si:mm'i;.\ten.\i.u. faik of tiik fkanki.i.n institftf, isti 



Tlio riMiiisylvania liailrond Coniiiiiny linviiis ahamlonod 
its fivi;;lit sfatuin al 'I'liiitt^Mitli and MarkiH sti'wts. Ilii' 
I'^'aukliu Institute adaiilt'il tlic slnidui-e Idf its Fair, tlic 
MKist sticiesst'iil aiKl aiiihitidus iiidusti-ial and inecliaiucal 
display lliat liad lioeii iriveii in tliis i-dimtry np tn lliat time. 
Tlie exliiliilion was open fmni Octdlier titli tn Xnveniher 
IJtli. dnrini; wliicli time L".)( >.l_»0( I admission tid;els were sold. 



Its Merchants and Its Story 167 

in the early 30 's, by which the schools were open to rich and poor alike. 
Immediately the public schools were lifted out of the pauper class, and 
no parent felt he had suffered any indignity by sending his children to 
one of them. The magnificence of Girard's bequest to the city for the 
founding of a college for poor orphan boys seems to have inspired the 
Controllers of Education in Philadelphia with a desire to do something 
along the same lines. The result was that in 1836, when Congress 
passed an act providing for the distribution of surplus revenue among 
the states, the Legislature of Pennsylvania decided to take advantage 
of the opportunity and share in the distribution. From the amount 
received from the National Government the Legislature appropriated 
$72,000 for a site and construction of a high school in Philadelphia. 
The building was erected on the Juniper street side, which then faced 
the broad acres of Penn Square, in 1837, and the following year the ' 
school was opened for the reception of pupils. In organizing the new 
institution, which was to be conducted along such novel lines that it 
was mainly an experiment, the Controllers of Schools in this city had 
the good fortune to have the assistance of Dr. Alexander Dallas Bache, 
who had been chosen president of Girard College, which institution 
was not then ready for occupancy. Professor Bache, who was a most 
remarkable man, a scientist of importance and a pedagogue of training 
and ability, thus became the first j) resident of the Central High School. 

Under the guidance of Professor Bache, the high school rapidly 
achieved a reputation. An astronomical observatory was provided, and 
under the direction of Professor E. Otis Kendall its fame spread even 
to Europe. It is said that from this observatory the return of Enke's 
comet was detected. The station was so admirably equipped with 
instruments that it was asserted, and admitted, that no college in the 
country equalled it. Even the Naval Observatory at Washington fre- 
quently borrowed parts of the equipment. In addition to the observa- 
tions made there a journal devoted to astronomy was issued, and gen- 
erally the school by its activities awakened a new era in astronomical 
science in this country. 

The building on Juniper street was a large and at the time re- 
garded as a modem and model structure for the purpose, but by 1854 
it had proved to be too small for the woi'k and a new building was 
erected at Broad and Green streets. The first school had a notable 
faculty, and also turned out many boys who later became efficient and 
prominent citizens of Philadelphia. 

At the corner of Juniper and Market streets stood for many years 
during the first half of the last century a horse market and hotel, which, 
while a rather shabby and unpretentious structure, was a landmark, 
and was well known to many Philadelphians of the period. At one 
time it displayed the sign of the Golden Horse, but, like all the struc- 



168 Mabket Street, Philadelphia 

tures on the lot, it was purchased by the Pennsylvama Railroad Com- 
pany in 1853 and removed. 

On Market street east of Juniper stood a little confectionery which 
boasted of a talkative parrot that would talk for the children coming 
in with their pennies for candy if they made a purchase. The little 
confectionery, however, did not get a place in history from this circum- 
stance, but from a far more tragic connection, for an employe of the 
candy store was Arthur Spring, who committed one of the most shock- 
ing murders which had startled the community up to that time. 

Spring was an Irishman of about forty-five years of age, in 1853, 
when the murders were committed. He was a hard drinker and was 
generally a dissolute character. The first murder mystery which 
shocked the city was committed in January of that year. A toymaker, 
Joseph Rink, whose place of business was on Chestnut street below 
Ninth, was found murdered behind his counter. The victim had been 
stabbed as he stood with his back to the assassin, and a passerby who 
saw the murderer make a hasty retreat from the premises gave chase, 
but the monster escaped. Three months later the city received another 
shock. Two women, Mrs. Ellen Lynch and her sister, Mrs. Honora 
Shaw, were murdered in their home, 260 Federal street, above Seventh. 
The murderer had stabbed the women repeatedly and had finished his 
ghastly work by beating them with a piece of lead pipe. The bodies 
were found in the house. A search for the murderer resulted in the 
arrest of Arthur Spring. It was found that the motive for the murder 
had been robbery, for one of the women, Mrs. Lynch, was known to 
have recently received a sum of money from her husband, who was a 
sergeant in the United States Army. It was learned that the women 
had been visited by Spring and he was arrested on suspicion. He also 
was charged with the murder of Rink, from the discovery of an um- 
brella found in the toymaker 's place, which had been identified as 
Spring's property. The murders furnished a sensation for weeks, and 
Spring, for some unaccountable reason was made a hero by romantic 
women. His poi'trait appeared in the illustrated papers, and he was 
as much talked of as some of the murderers of later times. He was 
hanged in ]\Ioyamensing Prison on June 10, 1853. Before he went to 
the scaffold he admitted that the umbrella found in Rink's shop was 
his, but denied that he had murdered the toymaker. 

In this same square, and probably in the very building in which 
Arthur Spring sold candy, a murder was committed in the fall of 1789, 
which lived in the memories of the inhabitants like a bad dream for 
some years. In those days convicts from the prison at Sixth and 
Walnut streets were taken out to mend the highways, do grading, and 
other similar tasks. They were popularly known as barrowmen. It 
appears that in September of the year 1789 a group of these men, 







-I- " 



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Its Merchants and Its Story 169 

working around Centre Square went to a pump at Thirteenth and 
Market streets for water, and on the way managed to learn that a 
drover, John McFarland, who, with his brother occupied a frame house 
between Centre Square and Thirteenth street, had just received a large 
sum of money for cattle. Five of the barrowmen decided they would re- 
turn at night and rob the brothers, and did succeed in making their es- 
cape from the prison and visiting the drovers. The wife of one of the 
desperadoes accompanied the party. They stopped at Thirteenth and 
Market streets, where they wrenched the handle from the pump, and 
then walked on to the frame house of McFarland. They called him to 
the door, set upon him and beat him while his brother took refuge in a 
chimney. Finding the drover showed some signs of life, the woman 
gave him the coup de grace. The robbers secured two thousand dollars, 
but were soon captured and all of them were hanged, excepting the 
woman, in the usual place for execution in those days — Broad street 
south of Centre Square at about the junction with the present South 
Penn Square. 

In this square on the north side of Market street was opened the 
first public garden for theatrical exhibitions and concerts in Phila- 
delphia. This was the Columbian Garden, which was owned by 
Laui'ence Astolfi. a confectioner and distiller, for confectioners were 
the principal manufacturers of cordials in those days. Astolfi opened 
a place of business at 136 Market street in 1810. Three years later he 
decided to add a public garden to his other enterprise, and the Colum- 
bian Garden was the result. This was a summer theatre, and the first 
season was largely occupied by the Manfredi Company in a pantomime, 
and James Fennell, the tragedian, appeared there on one night and 
gave a recitation, but he was then in his decline as an artist. After 
this season Astolfi kept the place closed as an amusement centre 
and conducted it as a mere refreshment garden. The war had a damp- 
ening effect upon all amusement enterprises, and it was not until the 
summer of 1816 that the Columbian Garden was again opened for 
theatrical entertainment. 

The Colvmibian Garden had an effective competitor in the Vauxhall 
Garden at Broad and Walnut streets, but the destruction of that place 
by a mob in 1819 sent amusement seekers back to the Market street 
house. In the spring of 1820 Astolfi was succeeded by Stanislaus Surin, 
who had been a success as a conjurer here the previous year. Surin 
opened the place as the Tivoli Garden, and made it a house where the 
usual evening's entertainment consisted of three farces. Surin the 
same year opened a theatre in Prune, now Locust, street, below Sixth, 
as the "Winter Tivoli Theatre, and this playhouse had a varied run of 
success and failure for three years. 

James Eees, the friend and one of the biographers of Edwin For- 



170 Market Street, Philadelphia 

rest, declared that it was from an incident that occurred in the Tivoli 
Garden, when Forrest was a boy of thirteen, that Colonel John Swift 
aftei-ward made him his i^rotege and gave him the opportunity to make 
his appearance as an actor. Of course, at the time the incident hap- 
Ijened the garden was called the Columbian. Rees has described the 
incident in these words : 

We (Colonel Swift and himself) were one evening in the Tivoli Garden, 
situated on Market street near Broad, north side, some time in the year 
1817, when a professoi' of chemistry was administering what at that time 
was called "laughing gas." Some very amusing scenes occurred, arising 
from its effect on those who inhaled it. At last a fine looking lad, whose age 
might have been about thirteen years, presented himself to the man of science 
to be experimented upon. As we have observed, he was a fine looking boy, 
neck bare, a large shirt collar thrown back over that of a blue rouudaliout ; 
for boys at that period did not wear men"s styles of coats. His features were 
manly, bold, but not forward or impertinent in their varying emotions ; he 
also had a fine head of hair which gathered in clustering curls around his 
well-formed neck. He was what we should call a model boy. He inhaled 
the gas ; immediately after the bag was removed he started out on the gravel 
walk, and, throwing himself into a position peculiarly dramatic, he recited 
a portion of Nerval's speech and also of Richard III, but ere he got through 
the current of his mind changed and he made a dash at the bystanders and 
a race ensued. The effect of the gas passing off, he came to himself, and. 
looking wildly upon the laughing crowd, he rushed away and was seen no 
more in the Garden. That boy was Edwin Forrest. 







1 /; 



y. 

y. 









■/. ■' — 












CHAPTER XXII 

BROAD AND MARKET STREETS THE COMMONS CENTRE SQUARE 

EXECUTIONS WATER WORKS CITY HALL 

It did not require many years to convince the Quakers here that 
the meeting house at Centre Square was in an inconvenient position, 
for it does not appear to have thrived and early was abandoned and 
removed, although it was standing in 1701. As the location was in the 
centre of the city, or, as contemporary writers said, "west of the city," 
which, of course, had not been built up so far westward as Broad street 
until about a century ago, the square became regarded as the Commons. 

This term, the Commons, in Philadelphia, especially with refer- 
ence to times before the Revolution, is a very elastic one. In different 
periods the Coimnons was in situations widely separated, but, evidently, 
never far from Market street. It will be recalled that Franklin's his- 
toric exi^eriment with the kite, by which he "drew the lightning from 
the clouds," was conducted on the Commons. But that leaves a beauti- 
fully indefinite idea of the location to the i^resent generation. It has 
been suggested, and widely believed, that in 1752 the field in which 
the philosopher made his experiment was on the block bounded by 
Ninth, Tenth, Chestnut and Market streets. But whether that was the 
location of the Commons in Franklin's time must be left open. During 
the Revolution, and for some years after the war for Independence, 
that indefinable spot was just south of Centre Square, at Broad and 
Market streets. At a still later date the ground just south of Centre 
Square and east of Broad street seems to have been referred to as 
Commons. It has been contended that Franklin's kite-flying experi- 
ment was conducted in the northwestern part of the city, in the neigh- 
borhood of Ridge avenue and Willow street, but upon what some of 
these varying beliefs are based is not very obvious. In 1688 a fair 
was held on the Commons, but if this meant Broad and Market streets 
it must have been found inconvenient. 

That Centre Square and its immediate neighborhood were gener- 
ally designated as the Commons in the latter decades of the eighteenth 
century does not admit of argument. The city's western growth was 
rapid after the Revolution. On the map of the city for 1794 Juniper 
street is shown extending from Vine to Cedar, or South streets, but 
it was not until the early years of the last century that it received its 
name. The demarkation of the Centre Square, which had long been 

171 



172 Mabket Street, Philadelphia 

a mere, roughly delineated circular road, became necessary when the 
engine house for the Water Works was built in the centre of the plot 
at the intersection of Broad and Market streets. After that, until the 
old marble building was removed, both Broad and Market streets were 
blended in the road which encircled the grounds. The Commons or 
Centre Square in the last half of the eighteenth century was the picnic 
grounds for Philadelphians. It was the only park of which the city 
boasted, although it was entirely unimproved, and was in a part of 
the town that was almost deserted. However, the advent of the engine 
house changed the character of the surroundings for the better. 

To the south of the Square, in the middle of Broad street, a gal- 
lows was erected about the time of the Revolution for the hanging of 
felons. Until about 1790 executions were publicly held here. In those 
days to many persons there evidently was nothing repulsive about a 
public hanging. John Moody was hanged there November 13, 1781. 
He had been convicted as a spy, it having been testified that he in- 
tended to have seized certain books and papers of Congress. On 
October 16, 1784, James Burke paid the penalty on the gallows there 
for having murdered and robbed his master, Timothy McAulitfe, who 
had his place in Water street. On September 18, 1789, the five barrow- 
men, convicted of the murder of John McFaiiand, within a hundred 
yards of the place of execution, were hanged at the same time. They 
were David Cronan, Francis Burns, John Burnett, John Logan and 
John Ferguson. 

Probably there was larger interest shown among the morbidly 
curious in the execution of the Doan Boys, the previous year. The 
story of the adventures of these desperadoes during the Revolution is 
quite as romantic as any tale of latter-day western bad men. Originally 
there were seven brothers, who came of a well-behaved pioneer 
family, but the boys were adventurous, are said to have associated with 
Indians, and to have taken part in the Wyoming Massacre. It is related 
of them that they had lived so long among the savages that they could 
scalp a victim as thoroughly and expertly as any Red man. They were 
intense Loyalists, and were volunteer spies for the British, who, while 
they detested them, and reprobated their alleged depredations, used 
them as they would any other agency. 

During their wild career, for more than six years, they are said 
to have stolen ninety-six horses and plundered innumerable victims. 
The Doans were immenseh' strong and had the agility of deers. They 
became a legend, and no story of their prowess was too bold to be be- 
lieved. For instance, it was said, and generally accepted, that Moses 
Doan was so strong and active that he could run and take a flj^ng lea]5 
over a Conestoga wagon. Another member of the family is alleged 
to have leaped the flight of steps of the Walnut street prison, while 




Who were exccuttd upon the cor 
Wednefday the 241? 





t 



An account of the lives and behaviour of 

Abraham MLevy Boan, 



A 



Brati»m and Ltvy Doan were dtfccndcii from re 



oni in the city of Philadelphia, on 
of Scptemb-r, 1788. 

They inJ fevcral other robbers were often aJvectifeJ 

apprehending*' 



coufins, aad nol^ by government, with large rewards for i 

A them. At laft ihey w»:re outlawed ; for i 

nty ; but while the " Doans wandered ab'jjt the continent un'i 



)ir( tilers as t^er.eraiiy repntted. A them. At laft they were outlawed ; for fix yeara thi 

Ab'ahani vvas born in Chefter county ; but while the " Doans wandered ab'jjt the continent un'il hlir,.i;; •, 
Jliitiflj poflfflcl philadc!i)hia, \ved in Buclcs county j--^. when they weie taken ns.ir the Turk's H:aJ, C..:..-. 
beiig of a bold and enteipiifing difpofnion, he was i Bounty, and earned to Philadclpjiia j.iil. 
employed by" the Tories to gr> upon errands into the>j» Their friends and relations repeatedly aJvlfvJ thein 
fity, and at times to catTy in norfes and cattle. In thi.. A to refrain their evil prafttccs and leave thn country, 
Jic was encouraged by l^tne people to all appctrance otrm but all in vain, notwithrtanding tic hartiihps t^ioy 
'^icputation, whofe biirnd political principles iaduce<kx underwent, being niten ojliged^ to conci-al i"i-tiIV!vcs, 
yShem to violate every lie of gratitude to their native^^'for weeks fucceflively in wooc}^ and lwa;iip'. H'-i'i;,,^ 
"country i apd mhofc coaduQiJ;' ol'en neprcbaled in P'i- || pal&d fevetal counterfeit no'es in CtiJtlet.jn, SuJlh^ 
"Kim', but c^fd never ijyprevailed on to mention their ^Carolina, to elude the otBcers ot jultice they ronceated" 




kimfclt to an idle ani di«Iipa'ed life, though not much 1. While in confinement in Pnjadclphia jj.l, tools 
Rroai liquors* gaming, or women. S»ere fevenl times handed them 



addicted to ftfon^ iiquots^ gaming. 

He was concerned in 'a highway robbery with one 
Jiichardfon, for which ihey were appr^^hendird, and con- 
fined at Pitcfljuffo Abraham broke priion, and his ac- 
coniplice tnfftred;" , ^ 

Abrah.tm was about five7cct ten inches high, remark- 
able for a£livity and ftreir^h, iniomuch that when load- 
ed with heavj irons he \^^ld jump feven Icet. 

Levy was born in Plunmcd townlhip, Bucks county, 
anivcfyetrly in life hao' the misfortune to form con- 
nexions wiih Abriham an3"hi3 accomplices. 

Tbcy committed tSiAmF B' "" ^ i n 1W # eAcu- 
op-^f^y^ -^^lifrn'oadieti o( wounds from their 
vng, a frenrh t-entleman, who kept i (lore upon. 
Suf<jochanna, about twenty miles from Harridurg. 
1 hey »ent to his Itoe on pretence of putchafing goods, 
and loicibly c^rt cd i.lt three hundred pounds worth. In 
this aftau three ot their eonfeJeiates tIBIied. 

They, and tbeit gang have (tolen ninety fix horfcs, 
fume of which lOey fuM from fixty to one hundred 
pounds. 



cm, to enable them to 
^fcape, but the vigilance of the jailor prevented iheir 
making ufe of them ; and againiihim thev vowed van- 
jgeance, if ever they IhouM have an opiionunity. 
T Great intereft was made to fave ihtrr lives vvhen firft 
Ordered for execution, and a rcQiite obtain^^d for one 
month y at the expiratir>n of that time, interest was a^aiii 
made in thcit favor, but government thought projjer ta 
^ut the law in force. 

T From the rcprefentations of ihejj- friends, they fl-iHer- 
.iSfr ttgjfelvcs.wuh a pirdr.n, fiii'in tlic monii.:.^ rfi^n 
they Igere ordered to prepaie themfelves for dea'n,they 
^nd their unfortunate telalions were much aftoniflieil'. 

Sooner than could be cxpedlcd, ihcy rccovtie t from 
tfieir furpnfe, and at the place of execution behaved wi.h 
qiani^lForlitude and Chriftian relignation, im;yiorio^ 
ijercy through Chrift, and exh.uring the fpeclators lo 
^end to the holy fcriptures, and thereby avoid their 
'^ fiiferable fituation. 

Abraham was in bis twenty fourth year. Levy in h^» 
i^nty fecund. 



^Pricc Twopence.) 



r.ltOADSIIH-; (tF 17SS. DEStTtll'.ING TIIK ( 'ItlMK.'^; OF TWO XOTOUIOTS ROBP.EKS 



These men were liiiiiKert on a stillows tit the south side of 
Centre Sqiinre, whidi for years had heen I he sctMie of exerii- 
tions. The l)oaii "Bovs" were the terrors of the Kcvolulion. 



Its Merchants and Its Stoky 173 

being taken there to serve his sentence, and escaped. Joseph Doan, the 
younger of the brothers, was fastidious in his tastes. He had a pen- 
chant for picking pockets, lived at the Conestoga Wagon in style when- 
ever he came to Philadelphia, and passed himself off as Lord Rawdon. 
All of the band were fearless, daring men. They wei-e hunted, rewards 
were offered for their capture, and they wei'e outlawed and frequently 
compelled to live in caves. Yet it is said of them that until the Revolu- 
tion they were a peaceful, harmless f amih% but were changed in character 
from the treatment they received from Whigs. They have been likened 
by some romantically inclined writers to Robin Hood's merry men, 
and in illustration of the assertion that they were not without good 
qualities, it is said that on one occasion one of the brothers, on his way 
to Frankford, discovered a British soldier annoying a young woman, 
and he promptly shot him. Nevertheless they were outlaws, robbers, 
and in one instance, at least, committed murder. 

In July, 1788, Abraham Doan, a cousin, who became attached to 
the gang, and Levi Doan, one of the brothers, were taken near the 
Turk's Head, Chester County, and carried to Philadelphia. On Sep- 
tember 24th they were hanged on the Commons. The following year, on 
July 29, another member of the outlaw band, William Cole, also paid 
the penalty for his crimes at the same place. He had broken jail and 
committed a robbery, and under a law just enacted, this was a capital 
oflfense. He therefore was the first person to suffer for the offense. 

During the Revolution the Commons became a scene of the greatest 
interest. Silas Deane, writing to his wife in May, 1775, remarked : "I 
seriously believe Pennsylvania will in one month have more than 20,000 
disciplined troops ready to take the field. They exercise hei'e twice 
every day, at 5 in the morning and at 5 in the afternoon, and are ex- 
tremely well armed. . . . The Commons west of the city is every 
morning and afternoon full of troops and spectators of all ranks." 
When Roehambeau's fine army of Frenchmen arrived in the city they 
were encamped in and around Centre Square. It is a mistake to believe 
that the whole 6000 troops in this French contingent were encamped 
on the site of City Hall, which could not have been accommodated on 
such a small area. At that time, however, the Centre Square was not 
defined in its limits, except on the maps, and the encampment extended 
far beyond the bounds on all sides. 

The junction of Broad and Mai'ket streets from the first laying 
out of the city until the present day has been a centre of interest in 
Philadelphia. It appears that since 1682 until the present nearly every 
suggested municipal improvement was made in one way or another 
to connect with this centre. From the earliest time until 1825, the ten 
acres left vacant there by Penn for a commons was known as Centre 
Square. In the latter year the square was divided into four squares 



174 Market Street, Philadelphia 

and they were collectively known as Penn Squares, which name they 
bore until the i^resent City Hall was erected upon them, but not without 
considerable opposition. 

Originally the centre of the town there was left rather to the 
mercies of the elements and nature. Upon the maps there appears a 
square piece of ground, but really there was no visible bounds for 
the Commons. Market street and Broad street, then mere cart roads, 
ran at right angles through the grounds. 

No attempt was made until the end of the eighteenth century to 
improve the square. Then, when the city suddenly realized that it was 
becoming too large for the water supply depending upon the household 
pump and decided to install a water works and a system of conduits, 
Centre Square was adopted as the location of the distributing station. 
From the days of the Revolution the grounds at Broad and Market 
streets had been the centre of attraction for holiday makers, but after 
the erection of the engine house, where the water drawn from the 
Schuylkill and delivered to Broad and Market streets was pumped up 
into a reservoir to give the necessary pressure to the service, both the 
beautiful building and the pleasantly arranged garden around it made 
a pleasure park for Philadelphians which they were not slow to take 
advantage of. 

As early as 1792, when the Delaware and Schuylkill Canal Naviga- 
tion Company was incorporated by the Pennsylvania Legislature, 
Philadelphians had a vision of a convenient water supply. It was 
expected that the authority obtained by the company to supply drink- 
ing water to the city through mains and conduits would be taken advan- 
tage of, but in some manner this privilege was not exercised, and the 
citizens of Philadelphia were compelled to wait for almost ten years 
before they had water delivered through the pipes to their residences. 

City- Councils became interested in the scheme for supplying the 
city with a modern water system, and in August, 1798, proposed that 
the Spring Mill fountain be examined with a view to establishing its 
capacity and the feasibility of bringing its water to Philadelphia. In 
November other sources of supply were examined by a committee of 
Councils, and finally it was determined that the Legislature should be 
appealed to for assistance in furthering the project. It was proposed 
that the Legislature should give authority to appropriate the auction 
duties towards financing the scheme and also give the corporation of 
Philadelphia the necessary authority to introduce the water into resi- 
dences and other buildings throughout the city. 

In 1799 a petition was circulated, signed by many citizens, asking 
the Councils to take up the subject again. Finally a Mr. Huntley, of 
Connecticut, was engaged as engineer of the project. Huntley was 
represented as a person who possessed certain improvements for the 




^ 0) 






£.515 

? 5 i 



Its Merchants and Its Story 175 

raising of water from rivers to heights, but when the plan was adopted 
it was not that of the man from Connecticut, who appears to have been 
merely a promoter, but the idea of Benjamin H. Latrobe, an engineer 
and architect who became famed in this country for his works. 

The Legislature reported favorably upon the proposition that came 
from a meeting of citizens, together with managers of the Marine and 
City Hospitals and the Delaware and Schuylkill Canal Company, and 
Latrobe was selected to go over the ground already examined. He 
reported that it was feasible to bring the water from Spring Mills to 
PhiladeliDhia in a closed elliptical culvert of three feet six inches section, 
at least three feet under ground, for approximately $275,000, but he 
strongly advised against the scheme, and in turn proposed an alterna- 
tive, which subsequently was adopted upon his recommendation. The 
distance which would have been necessary to convey the water from 
Spring Mills was twelve miles, and Latrobe suggested that it would 
be well to take the water from the Schuylkill right at Philadelphia and 
to pump the water by steam into a reservoir high enough to give the 
necessary pressure through the city mains. 

The canal company showed some opposition to Latrobe 's plan 
because it practically eliminated it from the scheme. The company 
claimed that by the completion of the canal water might be brought to 
Philadelphia and delivered without the use of any engine for pumping 
purposes. It also was claimed that this could be done for one-third 
less than the sum suggested by Latrobe as necessary by his plan. The 
estimated amount of water that would be required by the city was 
three hundred thousand gallons a day, or at the rate of thirty gallons 
for each dwelling. Of course, this estimate was made for the old city 
proper, and did not include any territory north of Vine street nor south 
of South street between the two rivers. 

For almost a year the contest conducted on the one side by the 
canal company and on the other by the adherents of Latrobe was waged 
in the newspapers. Some of the writers to the daily papers stigmatized 
the Latrobe plan as a ridiculous project, for there was little faith to 
be found in those days in the efficiency of the steam engine, which, as 
a matter of fact, was unlike the perfected machine of today. But in 
the end Latrobe was successful, and the warning that the city would be 
at the mercy of a steam engine for its water supply did not prevail. 
The enaine w«s furnished by Nicholas I. Roosevelt, an ancestor of 
Theodore Eoosevelt. 

Ill 1799 Councils took energetic action and passed an ordinance 
pledging the property of the city for the payment of the interest and 
redemption of the principal of the $150,000 loan. Shares were placed 
at one hundred dollars each. The Commissioners to receive subscrip- 
tions consisted of Edward Tilghman, Jared Ingersoll, Stephen Girard, 



176 Market Street, Philadelphia 

Jesse Walu, Levi Hollingswortli, Leonard Jacoby, John Innskeep, 
Jacob Shoemaker, Joseph Cruikshank, William Jones, Jonathan Robin- 
son and Thomas Haskins. 

Subscribers were to have water introduced into their houses for 
a period of three years without charge ; but before the system had been 
completed it was found necessary to raise by taxation another fifty 
thousand dollars. 

Briefly, the system was to take the water from the Schuylkill at 
a point between Chestnut and Market streets, and to deliver it to the 
Centre House at Centre Square, where it was raised by steampower to 
a reservoir. From this standpipe the water was allowed to enter the 
conduits, and from them introduced into the houses. The mains and 
conduits were all made of wood. They were logs through which holes 
had been bored. Primitive as the system was it was an enormous im- 
provement over any water supply then in use by any municiiJality in 
this country. At first it was not welcomed with any enthusiasm by the 
inhabitants who had been accustomed to draw water from the family 
pump, or even from the neighborhood pump. By degrees the advan- 
tages of the newer system became appreciated, and the original Water 
Works were recognized as being far too small for the daily needs of 
the people of a city like Philadelphia. 

Latrobe was an architect who brought some excellent ideas 
in public buildings from England, where he was born. He de- 
signed two bank buildings here, and the central engine house at Broad 
and Market streets, which was alluded to pleasantly and sarcastically 
as a pepper box, was a well-designed building for the purpose. It dis- 
played far more art than many later public buildings. Intended solely 
for a pumping house and reservoir, Latrobe erected a splendid structure 
that did not hint at its prosaic uses. The chimney was in the centre, 
and was most ornamentally applied to the structure. 

Centre Square'soon became the most picturesque spot in the city. 
The Centre House was erected directly in the centre of the ground, 
and a circular road ran around the park. Two avenues for foot pas- 
sengers ran east and west through the ground on Market street, and a 
single path took care of the pedestrians walking north and south from 
Broad street. Eows*of JNoiu lin.ly ; " ■ ■- ~^ ' i].;g^ 

and the space between was filled wit^ 

None of the original squares dedicated by Pt of 

the city were at that time irapi'oved. Washington Sqiu,^ . ;i^ i [.kki 'i 's 
field, a part of Franklin Square was used as a burial ground by the 
German Calvanist Church, while Logan and Eittenhouse Squares were 
visible only on the city maps, the former achieving some notoriety from 
the transfer to it of the public execution grounds. 

In 1809 the Centre House garden was embellished by the addition of 



Bixddeii£' 




'Wf3L\jxUt 



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im 



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P.K(»AI) AM) MAUKKT STItKKTS IX ISIO 



From I'axtoirs iiiiip nf riulMilelpUia pulilislit'il llial yeai-. 
■^ The inimiiiiii; house of the water works was in the ceiiti-c. 

anil liush's fonntain was east nf it. The site of Uroad 
Street Station was then the Loniharily (Jarden. 



Its Merchants and Its Stoky 177 

the first public fountain erected in this city. At the same time it was 
a beautiful piece of sculpture. It represented the spirit of the Schuyl- 
kill, as pictured by a nymph, holding a crane in her right arm. From 
the beak of the bird a stream of water played. The statue was of 
wood, carved by that native genius, William Rush. The water for the 
fountain, of course, was supplied from a city main and the beautiful work 
of art was the boast and admiration of all Philadelphians. The statue 
was modeled from Miss Nancy Vanuxem, a daughter of James Van- 
uxem, a member of Council's Watering Committee, and a well-known 
merchant. The fountain, after Centre Square was remodeled and the 
engine house removed, in 1828, was taken to Fairmount, where for 
many years it ornamented the gardens around the Water Works. 
Finally the perishing work was cast in bronze, and consequently may be 
seen to the present day near the City Aquarium at Fairmount. Miss 
Vanuxem lived to considerable age, dying in 1874. 

In 1828 the engine house was demolished and the marble pillars that 
were part of it used in the First Unitarian Church, at Tenth and 
Locust streets. For some time an upper room in the engine house was 
occupied by the Philosophical Society. When the engine house was 
removed an ordinance of Councils divided the original square into four 
and named them Penn Squares. Then for the first time both Market 
and Broad streets ran directly through the ground. 

Centre Square and the engine house made such a deep impression 
upon Philadelphians that artists did not neglect the picturesque spot. 
The first picture that is left to us of the site of the City Hall is that 
view of William Birch, which shows the engine house in 1800, just 
about the time of its completion. Then in the Port Folio for 1812 there 
appeared a beautiful little etching of the square, then improved by the 
addition of Rush's fountain and the rows of poplars; but the most 
lively impressions we have left to us of the scenes enacted there on 
occasion of holidays are those two paintings by the young, talented and 
unfortunate painter, John Lewis Krimmel. One of these, jDicturing 
a gala day, or a Sunday in Centre Square, is in the Academy of the 
Fine Arts, and the other, showing a Fourth of July celebration in 1819, 
is in the possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Another 
picture shows the circle around the square at an earlier period and 
gives an excellent idea of the primitive character of the roadway. 

As early as 1837 a movement was started to erect a City Hall at 
Broad and Market streets, but at the time nothing came of it. The 
Civil War seemed to put a quietus to another movement which was 
started later, but after that conflict the attention was turned to the 
subject again. A bill was put through the Legislature for the appoint- 
ment of a commission to build a structure to be called the Public 
Buildings, which was to house all the numerous departments of the 



178 Market Street, Philadelphia 

city and county tinder one roof. There was a disposition to read the 
text of the act differently, and on one side it was contended that the 
Legislature had no intention to direct the erection of a single structure, 
but of more than one. Under the act the commission was empowered 
to build the proposed building in either Washington Square or Penn 
Square, as the will of the people of Philadelphia decided by popular 
vote. 

The general tendency was to place the new structure at Broad and 
Market streets and mass meetings and other means were taken by those 
opposed to having the building erected on the Penn Squares to defeat 
the project or to direct it to Washington Square. The vote of the people 
was decidedly in favor of the Broad and Market streets' site, but even 
this decision would not silence the opposition, which at one time was 
very vigorous. A suit finally was brought in the Supreme Court against 
the Buildings Commission to have them enjoined from erecting the 
structure on Penn Squares. The reasons given were what would ap- 
pear to be trivial at this late day, but in 1871 they were listened to for 
three days in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. It was contended 
that Penn desired that the square should be an open place fo4*ever, and 
quoted his description that it should be like Moorfields in London. The 
Supreme Court, however, decided against the petitioners, and work was 
immediately started on the structure. Ground was broken on August 
10, 1871, and the first stone in the foundation was laid on August 12, 
1872. The cornerstone was laid witli Masonic ceremonies on July 4, 
1874, and for the next quarter century the building was in course of 
completion. The commission was abolished in 1901, and at that time 
its report showed the building to have cost $24,313,455, with some out- 
standing indebtedness which would have brought up the entire cost to 
almost $25,000,000. 




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siii: oi' I'.KOAD si'ki:i:t statkix. ikum a riio'n kiiiai'ii maih: aiuht isTr, 



111 lli«> riii'ciiriiiiiiil laii lie si-cii llic I'l'iici' lliMl 
lu'iK'fd ill Cily Hull while il \v;is hciii^' hiiill. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

BEOAD STREET TO EIGHTEENTH CENTRE HOUSE AND LOMBARDY GARDEN 

IMPROVEMENTS AROUND PENN SQU.UIES SEIXAS 

As has been mentioned in the previous chapter, the erection of 
the engine house of the Water Works in Centre Square not only led 
to the improvement of barren, unkempt fields there, but was the load- 
stone that attracted attention to the vicinity. The western move of 
the population was hastened and in 1814 this was recognized by the 
erection of a small market shed in the middle of Broad street, between 
the old gallows-ground, or South Penn Square, and Chestnut street. 
Far ahead of the demand for such a convenience, after the first rush 
westward had lost its impetus, the market never prospered, and after 
struggling along for about a dozen years, it finally was removed. Phila- 
delphia almost from the beginning has been proud of its markets. 
Indeed, the old guide books and descriptions of the city dwelt upon 
their excellence quite as much as upon the architectural wonders of 
the town. The market in Broad street was fashioned on the design of 
the sheds in Second street. 

Upon the removal of the engine house in Centre Square, the ground 
was divided into four small parks. Broad and Market streets sepa- 
rated them, while new avenues were provided for the outer boundaries 
in 1846. On the east Juniper street already in use was widened ; Filbert 
street had been extended on the north for some years ; Oak street, later 
Merrick street, bounded the squares on the west, and Olive street, later 
South Penn Square, formed the southern boundary. Oak and Olive 
streets were taken from the original land of the square. The name of 
Penn Squares was given the parks in 1828, and at first they were enclosed 
by picket fences, but in 1852 iron railings were substituted. 

Prior to the Revolution horse races were occasionally held around 
Centre Square. The date is indefinite, but it is certain that so early 
as 1760 fast horses ran two-mile heats; and a jockey club, which ap- 
pears to have had its headquarters at the Centre House, an inn, just 
west of the square, was formed in 1767. The Centre House dated 
from very early in the eighteenth century. It was on the line of travel 
between Philadelphia and the west and northwest, being half-way be- 
tween the old Court House at Second street and the middle ferry, over 
the Schuylkill. 

As early as 1744, when the Virginia Commissioners were here, their 

179 



180 Market Street, Philadelphia 

secretary, William Black, paid a visit to the Centre House and has 
left a brief description of the kind of place it was. This leads to the 
belief that it was a sporting headquarters, which is also proved by the 
fact that the first horse races that were run here were driven around 
Centre Square, and the tavern itself was the meeting place of horsemen 
and their followers. Black, si3eaking of the tavern, alluded to the 
billiard room and bowling alley which were features of the place. 
Thirty years later the Centre House was the scene of a tragedy that 
was one of the strangest and most romantic that ever occurred in this 
city. A former officer of the British Army, named Bruleman, who was 
dejected and dispirited, took a vow that he would kill the first man 
he met on the street. It happened that the first man whom he encoun- 
tered was Dr. Cadwalader, who in response to his salutation gave him a 
courteous reply, which so disarmed the would-be assassin that he per- 
mitted the physician to pass him without venting his strange i:»assiou 
upon him. Bruleman then walked out to the Centre House, where he 
came into contact with Captain Scull, whom he promptly shot in cold 
blood. 

The Centre House stood at what would be the northeast corner 
of Fifteenth and Market streets. This was a place of entertaimnent 
for almost a hundred years and in the early years of the last century 
was transformed into a place of amusement. As the Lombardy Garden 
it was for many years a favorite summer concert theatre. The garden 
derived its name from the Lombardy poplars which had been intro- 
duced here by William Hamilton, of the Woodlands, and many popular 
concert singers were heard at the Lombardy, which continued until 
about 1830. The Lombardy Garden was also known as Evans ' Garden, 
after the original owner of the house. This mansion, which stood near 
the Filbert street end of the lot, bounded by Market, Fifteenth, Filbert 
and Broad streets, was surrounded by a grove of trees. The First City 
Troop is said on occasion to have used the garden for drills. Several of 
the popular singers at the Chestnut Street Theatre were heard here on 
summer evenings, for the place was conducted somewhat after the man- 
ner of Vauxhall, London. 

Li 1808 Victorien, a riding master, erected an amphitheatre at the 
southwest corner of Fifteenth and Market streets, and his advertise- 
ments described its location as at the Centre House. Two years later, 
Thomas Swann, who had previously conducted an amphitheatre at 
Thirteenth and Market streets, took Victorien 's place and opened it 
as a riding school. He remained here only for a year, when he removed 
to the northwest corner of Tenth and Arch streets. Swann had been 
successful in New York City, where he had an amphitheatre as early 
as 1794. In this city he introduced lectures on horsemanship, gave an 
exhibition of evolutions, and appears to have attracted a considerable 




MKItliICK (X(i\V r.KOADi AM) MAKKKT STREETS. 1S(;3 

Tlif liuililiii^' was the lidiiie »( the I'nl.vteehiiic Collese ami stiliseiiueiitly of tlie Medico 

Cliinirgiciil Colleije ami the Third Xatiuiial Baiil; 




SOUTHWEST CORNER OF SIXTKKXTII AX1> MARKET STREETS. lS.-,(! 

The hiiildiutt was erected in 1S2S liy Sellers & Peinnick, fire engine Imiliicrs. 

Morris & .Tones & Co. hiler lieiaiiie .Morris, Wlieeler & (_'o. 



Its- Merchants and Its Stoby 181 

number of Philadelphia's first families whom he instructed in the 
equestrian art. In those days that science was far from being merely 
ornamental, especially to the young men, for it was only by using a 
horse that the suburbs could be easily reached, and there was no system 
of transportation. 

Coming down to a later period, when the tracks of the City Rail- 
road, which extended down Market street to Third, turned off at Broad 
and Market streets, there was a little box of a one-story house at the 
corner occupied by John Neif, who took the tonnage of the cars as 
they passed from Market street to Broad. The cars that passed over 
the road were taxed a certain amount according to their tonnage, and 
it was the business of Neff to weigh the loads, and make a note of the 
amount due the city for the service. 

In 1872 the tracks on Broad street, after considerable agitation, 
which finally assumed the attitude of force, for one night some of 
them were removed without formality, the rails were taken up. They 
had been a nuisance and an eyesore, and were preventng the proper 
growth of the city. About this time the sidewalks of the street were 
broadened and granite blocks laid in the roadway. Twenty years later 
Mayor Edwin S. Stuart, soon after he became the city's chief executive, 
sent a special message to City Councils asking that the whole appro- 
priation of half a million dollars provided for improved paving in 
small streets be diverted to laying asphalt in Broad street. The scheme 
was ingenious and practical, for the granite blocks removed from Broad 
street replaced the time-worn cobbles in small streets, while Broad 
street received the latest type of city paving. The appropriation was 
used to start the project, which ultimately improved Broad street for 
its length of thirteen miles. 

After the Lombardy Garden had seen its day of usefulness, and 
after Oak street had been opened along the western bounds of Penn 
Squares, some large and handsome dwellings were erected on the site 
of the old amusement place. This improvement dates from about 1850, 
and one of the leaders in this movement was Samuel V. Merrick. Later 
Oak street was changed to Merrick street, but upon the opening of 
Broad Street Station, in 1881, its name was once more changed to Broad 
street. On the market street end of the block stood a four-story build- 
ing, in which in 1875 the Model Coffee House was opened. This 
structure, however, was historic from quite a different circumstance. 
For several years after the Civil War Peter F. Rothermel, who was 
painting his great picture, "The Battle of Gettysburg," occupied the 
second and third stories of the building as his studio. The painting 
was so large, and his accessories requiring great space, he had the 
floor of the third story removed. For many years the picture was on 
exhibition in Memorial Hall, Fairmount Park, but about twenty years 



182 Makket Street, Philadelphia 

ago it was taken to Harrisburg and placed in a museum, where it was 
impossible for a spectator to view it satisfactorily. Mr. Rothermel is 
also said to have at one time during the painting of his picture occupied 
the Western Market House, on the north side of Market street, east of 
Sixteenth as a studio. This market was erected in 1859 and was 
removed finally to give jDlace to the Pennsylvania Railroad's elevated 
extension to Broad Street Station. 

Across Market street, at the corner of Broad, stood a white marble 
building that formerly housed the Third National Bank. The building, 
when it was erected in the early 60 's, was used as the home of the 
Polytechnic College of Pennsylvania. It 1880 the Medico-Chirurgical 
College occupied the upper part of the building and the bank had its 
quarters on the first floor. Several years ago the old structure was 
removed and the present handsome bank structure erected on the site. 
The work was done without disturbing the business of the institution, 
and the new walls went up by degrees as the old ones came down. 
The late General Louis Wagner was long the President of the Bank, 
and also was for years the President of the Board of City Trusts, 
which among other trusts left the city manages the Girard Estate for 
Girard College. When the extremely characteristic statue of the 
mariner and merchant, by Massey Ehind, was given the city on the 
occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of Girard College, 
General Wagner was popularly believed to have been responsible for 
its erection on the west side of the City Hall. It was alleged the 
General had done this because he could sit in his office in the bank and 
have the figure of Girard meet his gaze whenever he glanced out of 
the window. 

We shall be able to travel faster now that we are west of Broad 
street, for in the early years of the last century, when so many dis- 
tinguished and even historic personages were residing in the eastern 
end of Market street, and so many places of interest were located 
there, this western part not only was sparsely settled, but there was 
little of interest, or at least little to cause us to loiter. 

In the middle of Market street, from Fifteenth Street to Seven- 
teenth, stood market sheds like those which, in the last century, were 
familiar objects in the eastern part of the street from Eighth street 
to Front. These sheds, which were erected in the 30 's, were taken 
down about 1860, when the movement for the removal of the unsightly 
structures in the middle of the street had made headway and they were 
condemned. Close to the northwest corner of Fifteenth and Market 
streets at this period stood a rather imposing building with an arcaded 
entrance of great columns, called the Western Exchange. It was a hotel 
for farmers and was the western tenninus of many of the omnibus 
lines. This structure, not long after the removal of the market sheds, 




-- St i 






a I ii 



S .2 SI 
— ■/. - 







1 = 






Its Merchants and Its Stoey 183 

was found to have outlived its usefulness, and it, too, was taken down. 

Until five years ago, when a moving picture theatre was erected 
on the site, there stood at 1636 Market street the building in which the 
first asylum for the deaf and dumb was opened in this State, and the 
third institution of the kind in the United States. This was a three- 
and-a-half-story brick structure, with a store on the ground floor. In 
the early years of the last century it was occupied by David G. Seixas 
as a store for the sale of crockery and queensware. Seixas was a son of 
the Rev. Gershom Mendes Seixas, the first minister of the Mickve Israel 
Synagogue. 

The early directories of the city give only a slight clue to the 
location of the store, for they describe Seixas as living on High street 
above Schuylkill Seventh, or Sixteenth street. About the year 1819 
this remarkable man was so deei^ly impressed with the helplessness 
and sad condition of deaf and dumb children whom he chanced to see 
in his walks about the city that he began the foimdation of a school 
where they should be taught, as far as their capabilities permitted 
teaching. He was somewhat assisted in propagating his novel idea 
by the fact that there were before the public two plays founded upon 
the condition of the deaf and dumb. One of these plays was a trans- 
lation from Kotzebue, made by Smith, and another made by Dunlap, 
and an original play by Mr. Clerc, the superintendent of the Hartford 
Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. The latter had been presented at 
the old Chestnut Street Theatre and was published in 1818. 

Seixas was a man in humble circumstances, but he persisted in 
ventilating his opinions, and the result was that the small school which 
he fitted up in his own house attracted the attention of the philan- 
thropic, and they came to his assistance. It appears that the school 
was carried on there only a short time and then was transferred to 
the hotel building at Eleventh and Market streets, as already has been 
mentioned in a former chapter. This occurred about 1820, and came 
about from a conference which the founder had with jjersons of promi- 
nence, who had become interested in his work. They formed an organ- 
ization which was taken up by the State, and the Pennsylvania Insti- 
tution for the Deaf and Dumb came into existence. 

Seixas, in addition to keeping a store on Market street, where he 
sold pottery, had also a manufactory near the city, where he made 
Liverjiool ware. Nearly opposite or at 1725 Market street stood for 
years, indeed until about a generation ago, a celebrated American 
pottery. This is known to have been in existence as early as in 1810, 
but the exact year in which it was founded does not appear to have been 
presei'ved. This was the famed Washington Pottery, founded by 
Captain John Mullowney, a brickmaker. His advertisements in 1811 
show that the principal business of the pottery was the manufacture of 



184 Market Street, Philadelphia 

what was called Washington ware, a good quality of pottery, which was 
made in pitchers, coffee pots, teapots, sugar dishes, cream pots, wash 
basins, bowls, etc. Mullowney continued in business until 1816, but the 
pottery was continued by his successors until some time in the early 
80 's. These "Washington pitchers, etc., are now highly prized by col- 
lectors of early American china and pottery and are rather pleasing 
in shape and in their decoration. 

In the same block on the south side of Market street a few numbers 
west of Sixteenth was, until recently, the sales department of Morris, 
AVlieeler & Co. While the site had been occupied continuously by the firm 
or its ancestors in the business from about 1829, part of the old build- 
ings, which extend in the back by a wing to Sixteenth street, were erected 
by Sellers & Pennock, fire engine builders, in 1828. This firm was not in 
business here very long, when Coleman Sellers, the senior member of 
the firm, launched out with a shop in another part of the city. Sellers 
& Pennock appear to have only built and occupied the Sixteenth street 
end of the building, and upon leaving it, Israel Morris, who had estab- 
lished himself in business as a coal and iron merchant in 1828, where 
Henry Morris had preceded him, at the southwest corner of Schuylkill 
Seventh, or Sixteenth street, took possession. The firm at first was 
Morris & Johnson, and later Morris & Jones. The firm name changed 
again in 1854 to Morris & Jones & Co. The "Co." included Andrew 
Wheeler, Richard H. Downing and Joseph K. AVheeler. In 1860 the 
sign was again changed to that more familiar to the present genera- 
tion — Morris, Wheeler & Co. In December the concern moved its 
offices to Thirtieth and Locust streets. Henry Morris is said to have 
begun the manufacture of heaters and pipe in a cellar in the neigh- 
borhood, and founded the firm of Morris, Tasker & Co., whose Pascal 
Iron Works were the largest in the southern part of the city. This 
company some years ago was one of those absorbed by the United 
States Steel Corporation. Isaac P. Morris had a forge and foundry at 
Sixteenth and Market streets about the time Sellers & Pennock moved 
there, probably in the Market street building. This business became 
a part of the William Cramp & Sons ship building concern at a later 
date. 

On Seventeenth street between Market and Chestnut, at number 19, 
there was opened in 1858 the building of the Western Association of 
Ladies for the Relief and Employment of the Poor of Philadelphia. 
The organization had a very long title, but it did a veiy good work. 
It really was established in 1848 to employ poor white women to sew. 
There were accommodations for one hundred and fifty beneficiaries in 
the building. The Society was a good one of a type that flourished in 
Philadelphia during the middle years of the last century, but whose 
fields of endeavor have been encroached upon by the innumerable other 



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KioroT OF Tin; riiiLAi>Ei,ririA & cohmiua kailroad, isr.L' 

'I'liis liuildiii;; wms :iI llic iiofllieilsl ciii'iier of Kii^lilcfiilli ;ui(l MjirUet streets 











MARBLE WOKKS, I'djr, .MARKET STREET, isr.d 
I'Nir li;ilf :i (■culiirv lliis Mti'\i(.liire \v;is ;i l,'iii<1iHni'k 



Its Merchants and Its Story 185 

organizations to make the poor self-supporting. Notwithstanding tliis, 
the association still maintains its work in the original building. 

Across the street from the home of the Western Association stood 
until 1912 a building which was more familiar to Philadelphians be- 
tween 1865 and 1884. This was the Amateur Drawing Room, and its 
creation had its inception in the Civil War activities. In aid of the 
Sanitary Fair, held in 1864, a group of young society men and women 
gave a series of amateur dramatic performances, which were so suc- 
cessful, or at least so well received, that it was decided to establish a 
suitable small playhouse for the talented young actors. 

On Seventeenth street at the corner of a small street stood an 
unoccupied church building. The structure was of brick and had been 
erected in 1846 by an independent Methodist congi-egation, of which 
the Rev. J. Keller was pastor. Three years later it was the home of 
the Tabernacle Baptist Church, which occupied the edifice until it 
erected its fine brownstone building on Chestnut street, west of 
Eighteenth, the site of the Belgravia Hotel, in 1857. Two other con- 
gregations used the church subsequently — a Reformed Presbyterian, 
whose minister was the Rev. David McKee, which was here in 1858, 
and St. Barnabas 's Episcopal Church. In 1864 the Amateur Drawing 
Room Company purchased the property, and, after alterations, the 
building was opened for performances the following year. In 1884, 
the demand for such an institution having ceased, the property was 
sold and was used by a hay and feed dealer until the old building once 
more changed hands in 1912 and, being removed, the Middle City Post- 
oiiSce building was erected on its site. 

In its early years as a theatre for amateurs, the little playhouse was 
every winter the scene of many brilliant assemblages. Some of the 
amateurs were of great excellence, notably Miss Emilie von Schaumberg, 
the niece of Col. James Page, who is said to have been a descendant of 
one of the Lenape Chieftains. She later became Mrs. Hughes-Hallet, 
and within a few years was said to be living in Dinard, France. Miss 
Von Schaumberg for many years was the belle of Philadelphia, and 
there was none powerful enough to take the social sceptre from her. 
A remarkaljle linguist, a talented singer and actress, and a charming 
and magnetic woman who knew the artistic properties of dress, she 
was for years the social arbiter. She was always surrounded by bril- 
liant people in her salon, and as a conversationalist she has never been 
surpassed by any of her successors, if, indeed, she may be said to have 
had a successor. 

At the northeast corner of Eighteenth and Market streets stood 
the freight and passenger depot of the Philadelphia and Colimibia 
Railroad, in 1852. In that year the railroad, still owned by the State of 
Pennsylvania, was completed as far westward as Pittsburgh, and the 



186 Market Street, Philadelphia 

eastern end of the line was leased to Bingham & Dock, forwarding 
agents. It will be recalled that the Bingham House, at Eleventh and 
Market streets, received its name from this Mr. Bingham, who had his 
office there. Passengers were received at this depot at Eighteenth 
street for Columbia, the western terminus of the road. There a con- 
nection was made with the Pennsylvania Railroad, which carried the 
traveler to Pittsburgh. Previous to the building of the latter road the 
westei-n part of the journey to the Smoky City had to be made partly 
by canal and partly by gravity roads, and the journey was both incon- 
venient and tedious. 

Passengers boarded cars in the station at Eighteenth street, and 
these were drawn by four horses to West Philadelphia, where the cars 
were assembled into a train. The remainder of the journey was ac- 
complished by the aid of a locomotive. In describing the journey to 
Pittsburgh in 1852, a contemporary writer refers to the first mile of 
the journey being made over the widest street in Philadelphia, and 
after dwelling on the virtues of the Market street bridge, which had 
been widened to accommodate the railway cars in 1850, remarks: 
"emerging from the bridge we enter the borough of West Philadelphia, 
with its mud and dust and jimcrack cottages. It has a large and 
rapidly increasing population, which is principally composed of those 
who conduct business in the city, but do their sleeping out here — hence 
the dull, drowsy appearance of the place." While part of this descrip- 
tion is still true, for there is a vast residential section in West Phila- 
delphia, it no longer is dull and drowsy, but very much awake, with its 
immense population, rather greater than Philadelphia had in 1850, and 
its numerous churches, theatres and moving picture palaces. 



»- 



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3 M- 









X I- 



5 i J. 






CHAPTER XXIV 

EIGHTEENTH STREET TO THE SCHUYLKILL EIVER— CITY GAS WORKS 

BRIDGES ACROSS THE SCHUYLKILL 

When the market sheds on Market street between Fifteenth and Six- 
teenth streets were removed other market houses were immediately 
erected to take their places. As already mentioned, there was the New 
Western Market on Market street, near Sixteenth, and in addition there 
was built at the southeast corner of Nineteenth, the Southwestern 
Market, and at the northwest corner of Twenty-first street the Farmers' 
Western Market. Of these only that at Nineteenth street survives, 
although there is a private market concern occupying the market at 
Twenty-first street. 

The car works of Murphy & Allison, at 1908 Market street, about 
1860, was a very busy place. There were made virtually all of the 
street cars used on the ever-increasing lines in this city. It was an 
era of rapid transit. Not very raj^id, of course, for the motive power 
was the horse, but it was a great improvement over the rumbling omni- 
bus, and the people welcomed the new age with open aims. This plant 
was destroyed by a fire in 1868, and the Allisons afterward confined 
themselves to the construction of cars for the steam roads. This was 
the cue for George Brill and his eldest son, G. Martin Bi-ill, to take 
up the work their former employers had laid down, and the Brills 
began the construction of street cars, until today the company makes 
virtually all of the street cars in use in various parts of the world. 
The Brills at first took a building on Thirty-first street below Chestnut 
in 1869, and about twenty-five years ago removed to a large plant down 
the Darby road. At the present time there are branch plants in St. 
Louis, Cleveland, Elizabeth and Springfield, Mass. 

Opposite to the site of the Allison Car Works, at 1913, the 
Athletic Club of The Schuylkill Navy held its indoor athletic events 
from its organization in 1886 to the erection of its club house at Seven- 
teenth and Arch streets in 1890. 

The building formerly used as the power house for the Market street 
cable road still stands on the south side of the street between Nineteenth 
and Twentieth streets. The first cable cars to run on Market street were 
those of the Columbia avenue line, wliieh used Seventh and Ninth 
streets above Market, also, which made the first trip January 26, 1885. 
The success of this mode of propulsion induced the Traction Company 

187 



188 Market Street, Philadelphia 

to make extension of the system on Market street as far west as Forty- 
first. This section was running within a very few years. During 1876, 
the centennial year, steam dummies were operated on the Baring street 
branch of the Market street line from Front street to Forty- fourth 
and Elm, now Parkside avenue. 

At the corner of what is now Twentieth and Ranstead streets stood 
the brick-plastered church of the Brickmakers' Methodist Protestant 
congregation for some years before the Civil War. The edifice became 
vacant after that conflict began and when all the city's attention and 
activities were turned toward the Sanitary work for the war, the 
unoccupied church building was taken over and converted into a read- 
ing room for soldiers. In order to swell the proceeds of the Great 
Central Fair, which was held in Logan Square in 1864, a group of young 
society people formed an amateur dramatic association and presented 
very acceptably some light comedies in the old church building. These 
exhibitions were described on the programme as "Parlor Entertain- 
ments," but such plays as "She Stoops to Conquer," "Masks and 
Faces," and "The Ladies Battle" were given. 

In the company, as has already been mentioned, was Miss Emilie 
von Schaumburg, and while she as a talented amateur and gifted 
woman attracted a great deal of admiration, there were other very 
clever j'oung people in the casts. Among these were Miss Lydia Mason, 
Miss Homer, Dr. L. O. Koecker, Mr. Constant Guillou, Dr. William 
Camac, Mr. John Mason and Mr. M. Dilworth. It was the remarkable 
success of these entertainments, in the spring of 1864, that led, after 
the war, to the establishment of the Amateur Drawing Room on Seven- 
teenth street. 

Over the stores on Market street west of Twentieth may be seen 
the building on Ludlow street which housed the first electric lighting 
plant in this city. This belonged to the Brush Electric Light Company, 
whose first public contract was the lighting of Chestnut street between 
the two rivers. This system of illumination was put into effect De- 
cember 3, 1881, and attracted great curiosity. 

There is still standing in the square from Twentieth street to 
Twenty-first one of the buildings that formerly housed Jacoby's marble 
works, long a landmark in this neighboi-hood. The Jacobys began at 
Nineteenth street above Arch and later were on Chestnut street, but 
the Market street works were built about 1854. The finn which had 
been S. F. Jacoby & Son was changed to Jacoby & Co., and later to 
Jacoby & Prince, for half a century the marble works was the most 
conspicuous object on the street west of Broad. 

On Twenty-first and Ash streets, between Market and Chestnut, 
the First City Troop had its armory from 1864 to about 1904. The 
original building was superseded by another and more pretentious 



Its Merchants and Its Story 189 

building in 1874. This was supplanted by still another armory about 
fourteen years ago on Twenty-third street, between Market and Chest- 
nut. Prior to 1864 the organization held its drills in various parts of 
the city and in West Philadelphia, and its meetings and entertainments 
in hotels. 

On Twenty-third street above Market was erected the first 
municipal gas works in this city. It is now difficult to realize the 
amount of opposition that was encountered by the pioneers who desired 
to introduce illuminating gas here. It is even more difficult to 
realize that the opposition proceeded from men who otherwise were 
regarded as intelligent persons. Even after the works had been com- 
pleted and opened the applications for the service were ridiculously 
few in number. Philadelphians had been familiar with illuminating gas 
in exhibitions and in places of amusement, where it was regai'ded as 
merely an attractive novelty. Its jiracticability did not attract many 
believers. As early as 1796 there had been exhibitions of the gas in 
a place of amusement on Arch street. There it was voted wonderful, 
but no one who saw it dreamed that it could be introduced into i^rivate 
houses and used for illumination purposes, and the idea of adopting 
it for heating would have been voted absurd. 

It was almost forty years after this first exhibition that the first 
city gas works was erected, and then only after years of discussion 
and after Samuel Vaughn Merrick, of the Franklin Institute, had been 
sent to Europe to investigate the workings of gas works and reported 
that the introduction of gas into houses and for street lights was both 
feasible and safe. 

As early as 1816 the old Chestnut Street Theatre was illuminated 
by gas. That should have seemed to be a practical test, but despite 
the fact that the playhouse continued to use the illuminant until the 
house was destroyed by fire in 1821 there continued to be a fear that 
the gas was unsafe for the home. The gas used by the theatre was re- 
ceived from the gas plant in the Masonic Hall, then on Chestnut street 
above Seventh. This continued to be the only gas plant in the city 
from 1816, when it was introduced in the hall, until the city works on 
Twenty-thii'd street were opened in 1836. 

While there was a progressive element in the community which 
desired to see gas introduced, there also was a large conservative ele- 
ment which regarded such a measure as "inexpedient, offensive and 
dangerous." Statistics were freely quoted to prove the great danger 
to life and property in the use of illuminating gas. "We consider gas 
to be an article as ignitable as gun powder and nearly as fatal in its 
effects" is a sentence that occurs in one remonstrance. It was pointed 
out that the discharge of refuse from the gas works would poison the 
waters of the two rivers and kill all the fish in them, which really hap- 



190 Market Street, Philadelphia 

pened. Some of the conservatives went so far as to declare that the 
gas would vitiate the atmosphere generally and intimated that the citi- 
zens might die like flies. 

This agitation was at its height in 1833. After Mr. Merrick re- 
turned from Europe with a plain, careful and favorable report upon 
the success of gas in European cities. Councils took up the ques- 
tion again. In 1835 Councils authorized the erection of the first gas 
works. The building was completed in February, 1836. The capacity 
of the works was only 75,000 cubic feet of gas a day, but this was 
more than sufficient at that time. Only nineteen private houses and 
forty-six public burners were on the first list of applications for the 
service. The gas was supplied at the rate of $3.50 per 1000 cubic feet, 
but there was no general desire to abandon candles and sperm oil lamps 
to take up the new and clean illuminant. Wliile the rate would now 
be considered high, it is interesting to learn that it was just half the 
price asked for the same kind of service in New York City at that time. 
The original facade of the old gas works remained standing until about 
nine years ago, and after the buildings were removed the field was used 
for athletics by the Meadowbrook Club. 

This section of Market street from Twenty-first street to the 
Schuylkill river has been transformed in character within the last half- 
dozen years. Never remarkable for its attractiveness, owing to the 
proximity of the gas works, removed after the lease by the city to the 
United Gas Improvement Company, the part of the thoroughfare 
west from Twenty-third street was rendered almost uninhabitable by 
the raising of the street to meet the new grade approaching the bridge 
built in 1893. But the wonderful advancement of the motor car in- 
dustry and the repaving of the street with wood block, has caused 
this end of the street to be sought by sales and service departments 
of various automobile companies. The result has been the rehabilita- 
tion of the section, which is improving constantly, both in architectural 
appearance and in value. 

Just over the entrance to the subway west of Twenty-third street 
stands a small marble obelisk with four long inscriptions upon its 
four sides that probably is a mystery to the thousands who pass it daily. 
Few ever take the trouble to walk to it and read the inscriptions, and 
consequently cannot know that this short shaft of marble was set up 
originally at the western entrance to the permanent bridge over the 
Schuylkill here, and afterward was removed to a niche in the wall 
around the gas works on Twenty-third street. With the coming of the 
subway this latter location was removed, and the monument, now minus 
its original sun dial, was set up in its present location. 

Probably no monument ever erected in this country contained so 
many words, for upon the four tablets on this small obelisk is related 



Its Merchants and Its Story 191 

the whole history of the first Market street permanent bridge, which 
was comjileted in 1805, after five years of effort, and the company was 
so highly elated over its success that it had this monument carved and 
erected to commemorate the great undertaking. 

Although there was a trail leading to the Schuylkill on the line 
of Market street, from the time the city was laid out, it was not until 
1723 that the highway was really opened. It was an important line of 
travel, but in the early years was somewhat handicapped by the primi- 
tive and carelessly conducted ferry across the Schuylkill. Both the 
Provincial Council and afterwaixl the Common Council of the city, had 
difficulty in obtaining a proper ferry keeper. Nearly all of them had 
small boats, and the Council was constantly insisting upon a ' ' sufficient 
boat," only to be just as constantly disappointed. 

One of the early acts of Penn as Proprietary while he was in this 
city on his first visit was to grant "the Old Ferry" to Philip England. 
This was done about 1683, for in 1685 the complaints against the ferry 
keeper became so pronounced that he was ordered by the Provincial 
Council to expedite a sufficient boat. Later the ferry was kept by 
Benjamin Chambers and in the minutes of the Provincial Council for 
1700 will be found an entry directing the ferry keepers at the Schuyl- 
kill not to transport any persons not known to them or who could not 
give a good account of themselves who presented themselves to be trans- 
ported across the river after the "light is shut in," meaning after 
nightfall. 

The most prominent of the keepers of the Middle Ferry, as that 
at Market street was known, was Aquila Eose. He was a native of 
England, and while here worked for a time as a printer in the shop of 
Keimer, and also was the clerk of the Provincial Assembly. His fame, 
however, rests upon his poetry, which, while neither very great in 
quantity, nor of much distinction as verses, was among the earliest 
produced in the Province. Franklin in 1740 published a collection of 
his poetry which had been arranged by Eose's son, Joseph Rose. 
Keimer wrote an elegy to Eose, or rather composed such a piece from 
the types in his printing office, and an English friend, Elias Brockett, 
also wrote a poem to Rose's memory which, having been originally 
printed in an English newspaper, was reprinted in the little volume 
printed by Franklin in 1740. Eose was given a lease of the Middle 
Feriy for a period of twenty-one years in 1722, but he died the fol- 
lowing year at the age of twenty-eight years. He was a most popular 
man and his funeral was attended by all the printers in the city, and 
by many substantial citizens. His might well be said to have been the 
largest funeral that had been witnessed in this city up to that time, 
or for many years afterward. 

It was the year after Eose had been given the lease of Mlae ferry 



192 Market Street, Philadelphia 

that the Common Council ordered a committee of four members of 
the Council, together with the Sui^'eyor-general, "without delay to lay 
out ye High street, and fix ye wharfs for ye ferry." During the eigh- 
teenth century the ferries, especially the Middle Ferry at Market street, 
caused the Council considerable trouble. In 1744 the ferry was leased 
to James Coultas, who seems to have had it in 1757, for he sent a bill 
for ferriage of Halket's and Dunbar's Regiments to the Council. This 
was for £12. In 1755 the ferry was in the hands of Evan Evans, and 
in 1756 was leased to Joshua Bynie. Jonathan Humphries had it in 
1762, and in 1769 the Council considered the propriety and wisdom of 
making the ferry free. Although a committee was appointed for the 
purpose of reporting upon this project, nothing appears to have been 
done in the matter. During the Revolution the ferry was a very im- 
portant i)oint in all transportation westward from the city. At that 
time the ferry gave way to a bridge of boats, or floating bridge. This 
remained until the end of the eighteenth century, or until the first 
permanent bridge across the river at Market street was built. 

During the Revolution there was a bridge of boats, or floating 
bridge, across the Schuylkill river at Market street. It took the place 
of the Middle Ferry that had been maintained there since the first 
years of the city. General Israel Putnam appears to have been re- 
sponsible for the bridge of boats, which was nothing more than a mili- 
tary pontoon. As there was constant need for a bridge, owing to the 
transportation of supplies and of troops to the armies, the bridge was 
maintained throughout the war. It was so immensely superior to the 
old ferry that after the military demands had ceased the bridge was 
maintained by the city. It was on the line to the western frontier of 
Pennsylvania, and the road west of the Schuylkill in those days was 
not called High street, although it was a continuation of Market street, 
but the Conestoga road. 

The city and its industries and commerce increased rapidly after 
the Revolution. The floating bridge was soon found to be as inefficient 
in its day as the ferry had been in its time. While before the Revolu- 
tion the progressives were attempting to free the ferry of tolls, after 
the war they concentrated their efforts on the acquisition of a perma- 
nent bridge. In 1786 plans for a bridge were made, but were laid 
aside. A few years later Thomas Paine planned an iron bridge that 
was composed of a single span of about 400 feet. The model was made 
in Bordentown and brought here and set up in Franklin's house, where 
it was so much admired that it was removed to the State House for 
exhibition, and later sent to France. 

But Paine 's bridge did not get further than the model stage. It 
never was built. Efforts toward the erection of a bridge were about 
to be crowned with success in 1789 when an unusual flood in the Schuyl- 





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Its Merchants and Its Stoey 193 

kill swept away all the floating bridges, and for the time being all 
attention was directed to repairing the damage. Having waited for 
years for the Assembly to give the relief desired, finally City Councils 
decided to erect a permanent bridge, using for the purpose the ferry 
tolls and other moneys. But once again the plan did not proceed further 
than the preliminary stage. Finally, in 1798, the Legislature incor- 
porated a company with a capital of $150,000 for the purpose of build- 
ing the bridge. It was to be completed in five years after beginning 
work, and when the receipts from tolls should exceed 15 per cent, on 
the capital stock the surplus was to be devoted to a redemption fund 
for the purpose of eventually making the bridge free. The men who 
were authorized under the act to fonn the company included Richard 
Peters, John Perot, Godfrey Haga, Matthew McComiell and William 
Sheaf. The Legislature reserved the right to declare the bridge free 
after twenty-five years upon the payment of its appraised value. At 
that time the revenues from the ferry and floating bridge amounted to 
$3500 a year, and these were sold to the new company for $40,000. 

Timothy Palmer designed a wooden structure, and the cornerstone 
of the bridge was laid in the eastern abutment October 18, 1800. A 
Mr. Reynolds was the constructing engineer, and although considerable 
opposition developed against him he succeeded in maintaining his posi- 
tion, and continued until the structure was completed in 1805. 

In building the bridge some large problems in engineering were 
encountered. Those with present-day facilities and inventions, and in 
light of a century of knowledge and experience, would not be seriously 
regarded, but in 1800 the construction of the piers was a task that 
many Philadelphians looked upon with some pessimism. More than 
once the cofferdams were found to be flooded and the active work 
stopped. The facilities for pumping out this water were rather primi- 
tive, but the work was attacked with seriousness and persistence, and 
finally the efforts were rewarded by seeing the piers arise above high- 
water. The remainder of the work was comparatively simple. The 
bridge originally had a wagonway in the middle, and footpaths on either 
side. At first the structure was without a roof, but through the influ- 
ence of Judge Richard Peters, whose estate was at Belmont, now in 
Fairmount Park, the bridge was I'oofed. This work required a year to 
complete. 

In 1840, the City of Philadelphia becoming the owner of the bridge, 
upon pajTnent of $100,000, it was freed of tolls. What led to this pur- 
chase was an incident which occurred six years before that date. On 
April 22, 1834, what was termed a "Jubilee in honor of the triumph 
of the Whigs of New York in defense of the Constitution and laws," 
was held at Powelton, the seat of John Hare Powel. The Whig party 
was then in its infancy, and desiring to make the jubilee a success by 



194 Makket Street, Philadelphia 

inducing crowds to go over from the city, it was announced that on the 
day of the meeting the bridge would be free, an arrangement having 
been made with the company to that end. The meeting was as large 
and as enthusiastic as its managers had hoped it would be, and a taste 
of a free bridge for one day inspired a desire for a permanently free 
roadway across the river. Agitation of the proposition resulted in 
the city purchasing the bridge company's property. 

The bridge was widened to accommodate the railroad tracks of 
the Philadelphia and Columbia RaUroad in 1850, and this addition 
was attached to the northern side of the structure. In the fall of 1875 
the bridge was destroyed by fire, but a temporary structure was quickly 
raised in its place, and in 1887 the present cantilever was finished. 




WEST PHILADELPHIA IN 1S39, PROM THE MAP OF CHARLES ELLET 



Market street, from the Schuylkill to Mill 
creek, at this time, was known as Washiniiton 
street. Tlie streets In Ilaniiltonville hore the 
names of members of the Hamilton famil.v. 
Cramond street is the present Thirty-thlrfl. Till 
street is now Fortieth, etc. Xo vestijije of the 
West Philadelphia railroad survives. 



CHAPTER XXV 

WEST PHILADELPHIA — WASHINGTON STREET AND THE WEST CHESTER 
ROAD HAMILTONVILLE 

On some of the old maps of the city there is indicated a canal 
around the western approach to the bridge over the Schuylkill at Market 
street. This mysterious waterway was not so mysterious when it is 
understood for what purpose it was constructed. The bridge was withr 
out a draw, and for the benefit of small ships which were to be sailed 
north of Market street it was necessary to provide a way for them. 
This was done by the digging of a small, semicircular canal around the 
western end of the bridge in 1833 by the West Philadelphia Canal 
Company, but it never became anything more than a nuisance, and half 
a century ago was filled in, the corporation of the District of West 
Philadelphia being authorized to do so under the act of 1849. 

Until about the beginning of the last century Market street in 
West Philadelphia was known as the West Chester road, but after the 
death of Washington it was renamed Washington street, through that 
section of it known as Hamiltonville. West of Mill Creek, at Forty- 
sixth street, the western bounds of the village, it retained its earlier 
name. The name Washington climg to it until the time of the con- 
solidation of the various townships, boroughs, etc., into the city of 
Philadelphia in 1854. It is true that it was customaiy for Philadel- 
phians to refer to the street as Market street, in spite of its proper 
name, just as they insisted upon calling High street by that name. 

From the western end of the bridge to Cobb's creek, the county 
line, the distance is three miles, and from a point near the river west- 
ward to about Forty-sixth street, it formerly passed through the tract 
of the Hamiltons. This tract comprised six hundred acres, and the 
upper part was laid out in Hamilton village. Market street seems to 
have been the northern boundary of the estate, the remains of which 
may now be seen in the eighty-six acres comprising Woodlands Ceme- 
tery. The estate early in the eighteenth century was owned by Andrew 
Hamilton and descended to his son, William, who liked to call himself 
William Hamilton of the Woodlands, the name of his estate. Before 
West Philadelphia became a political part of the city of Philadelphia 
there were recalled in the names of the streets in Hamilton village the 
names of the Hamiltons. 

There was Andrew street, now Walnut street, named for Andrew 

395 



196 Makket Street, Philadelphia 

Hamilton the second; Till street, Fortieth street, named for his wife, 
who was a Miss Till; William street, or Thirty-ninth, for their son, 
William Hamilton "of the AVoodlands." Ludlow street was called 
Oak street, and few of the thoroughfares within the bounds of the 
village were known by their present names. Thirty-third street was 
Cramond; Thirty- fourth, Moore; Thirty-sixth, Margaret; Thirty- 
seventh, Park; Thirty-eighth, Mary, and Chestnut, James. North of 
Market street Fortieth street was known as Cedar lane. 

West Philadelphia originally was a very small section of Blockley 
Township. In 1840 it was regarded as insignificant, and, containing few 
inliabitants and fewer buildings, it was mainly confined to a little dis- 
trict around the western end of the Market street bridge. It was bounded 
by the villages of Hamilton, Greenville, Powelton and a part of Mantua. 
On the other hand, Hamiltonville was the choicest part of this section 
of the county, and Powelton, whose name was taken from the Powell 
family who had a magnificent estate just north of Market street at 
Thirty-second, was then a new and promising village. 

A description of Hamiltonville at this time gives an indication of 
the esteem in which it was held : 

"A handsome village of West Philadelphia, situated about oue mile west 
of the Market street bridge," notes this description. "It is on the road to West 
Chester. Its plan is regular, and the streets, most of which are prolongations 
of those in the city, are wide and well regulated. The buildings, about eighty 
in number, generally stand apart from each other, leaving garden spaces 
between them. Taken altogether, Hamilton is probably the prettiest village 
in the neighborhood of Philadelphia. The dwellings are occupied principally 
by families who reside in the city during the winter season, or merchants and 
others, who reside here and transact business in the city." 

West Philadelphia, however, at this time contained about 150 build- 
ings, including extensive furnaces and other manufacturing establish- 
ments. It was predicted bj' the guide-book writer that "it is rapidly 
improving, and will ultimately form an important suburb of the city." 

In 1844 the Borough of West Philadelphia was incorporated, and 
its title was changed to the District of West Philadelphia in 1851. WTien 
the Commissioners issued their "Digest of Ordinances," in 1852, the 
compiler by way of preface noted some of the good features of the 
district as a place of residence. It was more of a promise than the 
description of a work achieved as will be perceived from a few quota- 
tions. Look at this beckoning finger across the river: 

As a place of residence, it may safely be said, that no other location 
In the vicinity of Philadelphia offers superior attractions. The ground in 
general is elevated, and remarkably healttiy ; the streets are wide, and many 
of them bordered with rows of handsome shade trees ; and a large portion 
of the District has been covered with costly and highly ornamental dwellings. 
New streets are being opened, graded, and paved ; footwalks have been laid 
and gas Introduced, and arrangements will soon be made for an ample supply 
of water. Omnibus lines have been established, which run constantly, day 



Its Merchants and Its Stoby 197 

and evening, thus enabling its residents to transact business In the City of 
Philadelphia and adjoining districts without inconvenience. A number of 
wealthy and influential citizens now reside In the District, and there Is every 
indication that the tide of population will flow into it with unexampled 
rapidity. 

Provision by law has been made for the erection of two additional bridges 
over the Schuylkill, and these will afford facility and convenience to the 
great amount of travel and iuterconimunieatlon which the present avenues 
are Inadequate to accommodate. 



The present Thirtieth street, prior to the consolidation of the city, 
was named Bridgewater and earlier Upper Ferry road. It was the 
shortest avenue of communication between this part of Market street 
and Mantuaville, which in these days was reached by the upper perma- 
nent bridge, now Callowhill street bridge. In earlier times the road led 
to the Upper Ferry at the same place. Lying east of the road, and not 
far from Market street, was from very early times a burial ground which 
never seemed to have an owner. The absence of all jurisdiction gave 
the impression that the ground was dedicated to public uses. But after 
the victims of the gallows had been laid away there for years without 
protest, and innmnerable other burials conducted there, the Society of 
Friends made it known in 1806 that the cemetery had been given to 
them. 

Beside the burial ground, probably a century before this time, was 
the farm of a Friend named Duckett, in whose house the members of 
the society held meetings. In the course of a petition to the Legislature 
in 1809 it was stated that the ground had been surveyed and had been 
held by the Society of Friends for one hundred and twenty years, or 
since 1689. The Friends admitted that their title was not complete, 
but insisted that the presumptive evidence was in their favor. They 
declared that they had exercised ownership for sixty years, and, as the 
ground was not vacant nor unappropriated land, the Legislature had 
no right to interfere. This appeal came in response to an action on 
the part of citizens to have the ground declared public ijroperty, after 
the Friends, in 1809, had suddenly taken possession and refused per- 
mission to other denominations to use the cemetery. The controversy, 
which engaged the Society on one hand and the Board of Health on 
the other, finally resulted in a compromise in 1819, when the Society 
agreed to relinquish possession to the Board with the understanding 
that the ground be used as a place of interment of the dead forever. 
When the Pennsylvania Railroad began operation and desired to pass 
through this part of West Philadelphia, in 1850, the plot was sold to 
the railroad company. In this little cemetery were buried, during the 
latter years of the eighteenth century and the early ones of the nine- 
teenth, several notorious murderers, among them Captain Smyth, who 
murdered Captain Carson, the husband of the strange woman, Ann 
Carson. 



198 Makket Street, Philadelphia 

A map of West Philadelphia made in 1839 defines a railroad run- 
ning from a point on the west bank of the Schuylkill river, at about 
Chestnut street, in a more or less northwestern course through the 
west side of the county until it joined the Columbia Kailroad at a point 
near Buck Tavern, in Merion township, about six miles from the place 
of beginning at the river. This road, known as the West Philadelphia 
Railroad, which was to eliminate the inclined jslane, and which was not 
completed until 1850, crossed Market street at Thirty-sixth, and then 
continued in a line nearly parallel to Lancaster avenue. 

The West Philadelphia Railroad was projected by persons who 
objected to the use of an inclined plane at Belmont, and believed that 
the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad should enter the city at a 
lower grade. When the road was finally built, and the inclined plane 
abandoned, it was on a route very different at the eastern end from 
what is to be found in these old maps. On the new route the road 
stopped at the western end of the Market street bridge, and ran along 
virtually the line now in use by the Pennsylvania Railroad to a point 
near Ardmore station. At this time it was deemed essential that the 
road should enter Philadelphia at Market street, and in 1850 the re- 
modeling of Market street bridge was finished and the first trains on 
the new line, to cross the bridge, were run on October 14. The 
old bridge was destroyed by fire on November 20, 1875, and on November 
29th the Pennsj^Ivania Railroad was running trains across the tem- 
porary bridge that had been constructed in ninety working hours. 

In 1864 the Pennsylvania Railroad erected a passenger depot at 
Thirtieth and Market streets, and for some time this was one of the 
principal stations for passengers for the West and for New York. The 
depot was abandoned in 1876, when the large station at Thirty-second 
and Market streets was opened for the Centennial Exposition rush. 
This was a busy neighborhood during the next four years, but this 
station, too, was finally abandoned when Broad Street Station was 
opened in 1881. The former station was built in a few days more than 
two months, in time for the Centennial. It was burned April 18, 1896. 

On the lot at the northwest corner of Lancaster avenue and Thirty- 
second street, partly occupied by the Armory for the Cavalry Squadron 
erected three years ago, was held the first electrical exposition in this 
country. This was organized successfully under the auspices of the 
Franklin Institute, and was opened in 1884. 

On Market street, from the bridge westward to Mill Creek, there 
were four inns or taverns in the early years of the last centuiy, and 
one of them survives to the present day. Between Thirty-seventh and 
Fortieth streets were several horse bazaars and mule yards, and the 
vicinity is still noted for this business. In 1814 there was a tavern 
which hung out the sign of the "Golden Fish," at the west end of the 




'f ' " "i-n,to,^'K/feive/i^Soit.,-, 



I'lO.N.VSVLVAMA KAI l.I!( lAl ) S'l'ATK i\ AT THI KTIIO'l'II STUIOKT 



r.\iill ill 1S(;4. most (if the |i;iss('nij;er traffic 
Willi riiiladelpliia passed llir(m.i;li lliis huiiible 
iMiiUliii!,' until IsTC. Altlnmi;!! it was adveftised 
as locatpd at Tliirtietli stivet, it really was close 
to Tliifty-tii-st street. The iihotofn-aph irives an 
excellent idea of the type uf hoi-se cars nseil hy 
riiiladelphians until IMK!. 




'A 



— I. 






- ^ "^ ^ — 






Its Merchants and Its Stoky 199 

permanent bridge. This place was at the northwest corner of Thirtieth 
street, and was kept by C. Young, one of whose advertisements gives 
the information that a fox is to be liberated there for the benefit of the 
city fox hunters, for it must be remembered that a hundred years ago 
this section of West Philadelphia was almost a wilderness so far as 
habitations were concerned. 

Near the corner of Thirty-second and Market streets stood a tavern 
long known as the Mansion, although in 1839 this was the Liberty. At 
the southeast corner of Thirty-sixth and Market streets stood the 
William Penn House. At the same time there was a William Penn 
Hotel on Market street above Thirty-eighth, where the City Troop occa- 
sionally met in the 50 's. The William Penn near Thirty-eighth street 
is still standing, and has the distinction of being the last coaching house 
in the city. Until the West Chester trolley line was established, about 
twenty years ago, a stage carrjdng the mail used to set out for Newtown 
Square twice a day from the William Penn. Between Thirty-seventh 
and Thirty-eighth streets, on the south side of Market, stood Ball's 
Inn, later known as the Bull's Head. Not many years ago the original 
building was removed and the present horse auction house erected on 
the site. 

At Thirty-second street two diagonal avenues run off Market street. 
The old Lancaster road starts off in a northwestern direction, and a 
little east of it the Darby road, now Woodland avenue, runs off in a 
southwestern way. The Lancaster road is the older of the two, and 
was opened early in the eighteenth century. The road to Darby until 
late in that century was from Gray's Ferry, but in 1780 a petition was 
received by the Assembly asking that the road be opened to Market 
street. This appears to have been reported favorably the following 
year, and the act passed to have the road opened through Hamilton's 
land. The Lancaster road had the distinction of being the first turnpike 
road in this country, and was the forerunner of "pikes" all over the 
United States. Some of these survive much to the annoyance of motor- 
ists, who do not relish the payment of tolls at frequent intervals. 

At the southeast corner of Thirty-seventh and Market streets 
stands the last of the commissioners' halls, a relic of the days 
before the consolidation of the city municipalities. This building orig- 
inally was erected for a Masonic hall, and several lodges of that fra- 
ternity used to meet there. About 1850 the Coromissioners of West 
Philadelphia, which had been erected into a borough in 1844, and who 
had formerly held their meetings in a schoolhouse at Thirty-third and 
Li^dlow streets, and in Keen Hall, then on Market street west of Thirty- 
third, removed to the building at the southeast corner of Thirty-seventh 
and Market streets, which they renamed Commissioners' Hall. 

There is still another relic of the early days of West Philadelphia 



200 Mabket Street, Philadelphia 

in the headquarters of the West Philadelphia Engine Company, which 
structure was occupied up to the time the city fire department was 
organized. Tliis building is now numbered 3420 Market street. 

On Market street, a little west of Thirty-seventh, the Western 
Provident Society and Children's Home was founded in 1851. The 
organization was chartered in 1858 and afterward erected the present 
building at Forty-first and Baring streets. The title of the institution 
has since been shortened to The Western Home for Poor Children. 
It maintains on an average sixty or more white children. 

Until about ten years ago the West Philadelphia Institute occupied 
its building at the northwest corner of Fortieth and Ludlow streets. 
It was one of the group of mechanics' institutes which came into being 
in the early 50 's. There were five of them in all, one the city proper, 
the City Institute, still in active service at Eighteenth and Chestnut 
streets, and one in each of four districts — Spring Garden, Southwark, 
Moyamensing and West Philadelphia. The latter was incorporated in 
1853, at which time it occupied a building on Thirty-ninth street, north 
of Market. The West Philadelphia branch of the Free Library occu- 
pied quarters in the Fortieth street building, until its new home at 
Fortieth and Locust streets was completed about ten years ago. The 
original purpose of the Institute having been supplanted by other 
agencies, especially the growth of the Free Library, the old building 
was sold. 

From Forty-second street to Forty-ninth street on the north side 
of Market, or rather from Forty-fourth street, now, runs the walls 
of the Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane, familiarly known to old 
Philadelphians as "Kirkbride's," after the name of the first super- 
intendent. Dr. Thomas S. Kirkbride. This large estate was the property 
of Paul Busti, whom we mentioned as living on Twelfth sti'eet below 
Market about the close of the eighteenth century, in one of the houses 
south of Dunlap's mansion. Mr. Busti was an Italian by birth, but had 
been in commerce in Amsterdam before coming here in 1799 as agent 
for the Holland Company. The house on the estate was built in 1794, 
and the farm, with its mansion house, were occupied by Busti from 
about the beginning of the last century until his death in 1824, as his 
country place. In 1836 the property was purchased by the managers 
of the Pennsylvania Hospital for their newly planned department for 
the insane. About twenty years ago Markoe street was opened through 
the grounds, and now there is a movement on foot to have the property 
acquired by the city for a park and a recreation centre, but principally 
in an effort to aid transit in that part of West Philadelphia. 

In 1913 citizens of West Philadelphia succeeded in having an 
ordinance to cut Forty-fourth street through the grounds of the hos- 
pital passed by City Councils. In a legal battle which followed with 




WILLIAM I'LX.N HOTEL. .'M 7 .MAKKl"!' S'I'KKKT 

A sl;i;.'r lo Xcuiiiwii Siniare si'l mil li i lu-rc iiulil IsilT 




I'AIL BTSTl'S IlorSK. AT FOliTY-FOCItTII STUKET 
It lieoaine the resideiu-e of Dr. Thomas S. Kii'khritle 



Its Merchants and Its Story 201 

the hospital corporation, the right of the city to open the street was 
sustained by the Court of Common Pleas. In appeals successively to 
the State Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court of the United States, 
whither the hospital authorities carried their opposition, the decision 
of the lower court was sustained. 

The opening of the Market street elevated and subway railroad, 
in 1907, was responsible for the building up of Market street from 
Forty-sixth street to the City Line, at Cobb's Creek. Before the ad- 
vent of the road there were numerous vacant lots and even farm lands 
in the neighborhood of Fiftieth street and westward, but within a few 
years, or while the elevated structure was in the course of erection, 
these lands were rapidly covered by rows of houses and stores, and a 
new city came into being, thus jjroving the correctness of the prophecy 
made as far back as 1840. 

The old woolen mills of E. Wrigley, now occupied by the United 
Gas Improvement Company at Farragut street, alongside Forty-sixth 
street station of the Market street elevated road, were for many years 
a landmark on the West Chester road, as this part of Market street 
then was known. It was the custom to give a popular name to mills, 
which was branded upon their products; so this one bore the name 
"Good Intent Mills." Until about forty years ago Mill creek passed 
the mills to the east, and in those days ran through the hospital grounds. 

Just beyond the hosj^ital grounds, until about twenty-five years ago, 
ran Rabbit lane, a diagonal road which originally crossed Market street 
near Fiftieth, but later had to be entered from Fifty-second and Walnut 
streets. This road ran in a southwestern direction down to Baltimore 
avenue, and near the latter road, then the Chadd's Ford turnpike, was 
an old farm house which had been obtained by a party of well-known 
horsemen in Philadelphia, such as Captain Joseph Lapsley Wilson, 
Wayne MacVeagh, A. J. Cassatt, Edward Rogers and Hartman Kuhn. 
These organized themselves into a driving club called the Rabbit, after 
the farm on Rabbit lane. From 1867 until 1872 the house on Rabbit 
lane was occupied by the club, but later the headquarters were removed 
to Hay lane, and not so many years ago to a spot near Christ Church 
Hospital, just outside the bounds of the West Park. 

On the old maps of eighty years ago, from a point about Forty- 
fifth street, west, we find scattered widely apart the names of Lewis 
Biles, at Forty-fifth street ; Pennel, a little west ; and further on Cuth- 
bert, Gamber, J. Sellers, Hoffman and Plankley. At Fifty-sixth street 
stood the Farmers and Mechanics Inn ; at Fifty-ninth street, the Block- 
leyville Hotel; and at Sixtieth street, the Cross Keys Tavern, the site 
of a theatre of the same name. At the end of Market street runs Cobb's 
creek, the county line, passing through the recently opened Cobb's 
Creek Park. 



APPENDIX 

DIRECTORY OF MAKKET STREET, 1918, 1801 AND 1785 

No directory of Philadelphia appeared before the year 1785, when within a week, two 
reference volumes with that title were published — MacPherson's and White's — both now 
rare. A manuscript directory compiled from these by John McAllister, many years ago, 
has been made the basis for the names on Marliet street in 17S5. These, of course, have 
been checked up, and the list is believed to be accurate. Neither of these volumes, nor 
any of the directories published prior to about ISIO made any effort to list occupants of 
streets west of Tenth street as the population became thin at Ninth, and consequently the 
comparisons with sites of present-day buildings necessarily stop at Ninth street. However, 
for the sake of comparison, some business places are listed westward to Seventeenth 
street, by using the business directory of 1859. 



NORTH SIDE, DELAWARE AVENUE TO FRONT STREET 



1918 
j3 1 Ridgway House 

5 Greenwald, Cigars 
g| Ridgway Confectionery 



11 Ridgway Barber Shop 
13 Homestead Farms Lunch 



1801 

William Phares, Marliet Street 

Ferry House 
William Gray, Grocer 



Margaret Agnew, Grocer 
Samuel B. Eyre, Hatter 



1785 

Charles Syng 

McLaughlin & Taggart, Grocers 



Ralston & Holmes, Store 
John Cook 
Ralston & Holmes 
Bennett & Somers 
Joseph Donaldson, Jr. 



15 
17 



United Cigar Stores Co. 
The Handy Shop 



WATER STREET 

John Crothers, Tailor 
Jacob Clements, Grocer 



James Long 
William Jaclsson 



SOUTH SIDE, DELAWARE AVENUE TO FRONT STREET 



Davis Hotel 
2 Montague & Co., Candy 
4 , Saloon 

8 >-Schwoerer's Lunch 
10 j 



12 Tuclt Cigar Company 



Z. and W. C. Whltall, Grocers 
John Mlcklejohn, Grocer 

Andrew Boyd, Shop 
Thomas Munns, Tavern 
Wm. Newell, Grocer 

George McDowell, Tailor 



Paul Beck, Jr. 

Fisher & Roberts, Grocers 

John Rugge 
John Maclin 
Robert Turner, Tavern 
Thomas Vowel 



14 Sam'l Loeb, Saloon 



WATER STREET 

Jacob Clarke, Grocer 



John Campbell, Store 



NORTH SIDE, FRONT STREET TO SECOND 



101 W. H. Flood, Saloon 
103 P. B. Mingle Co., Seeds 

105 John P. Nickles, Candy 
107 John McCloskey, Saloon 

^•^'-^l Rapid TraD.sit Co. 
Ill (■ Trolley Curve 

113 t W. H. and G. W. Allen, 
115 / Hardware 



117 



Jolin C. Townsend & Sons, 
Teas and Coffee 



Thomas Peacan, Grocer 
Abraham Sink, Hardware 



James Carman, Hats 
Edward Collins, Cheese 

J Nathan Ball, Merchant 

( Thomas Bishop, Bottler 

i Joseph Bispham, Hats 

( James Trueman, Tin Plate 
George Roberts, Cutler 
Peter Meneday, Mariner 
Charles and Joseph Pleasants, 

Iron 



Joseph Johnson 

Sam'l and James Fisher, 

Merchants 
Sam'l Fisher, Hats 
John Baker 
James Withy, Hats 
Matthew Preston 

ChrLstian Stemble 

Josiah Crisen 

John Poyntel, Stationer 



203 



204 



Market Street, Philadelphia 



19) 
23 j 



119 
1 

123 
125 
127 I 
129 J 

131 

133 

135 
137 



1918 

B. S. Janney & Co., Jr., 
Wholesale Grocers 

The Moore Seed Co. 



• Coates Brothers, Wool 

American Stores Co., 

Groceries 
W. A. Colescott Co., 

Brushes 
Rogers & Miller, Hardware 
M. B. Strouse & Co., 

Wines and Liquors 



1801 

Jacob C. Wikoff, Drugs 

r Mrs. Mary Cresson, Widow 
I Haines & Jones, Merchants 

Ellis Yarnall, Iron 

Rogers & Donaldson, Shop 
. William Ball, Gentleman 
[ Edward Clemans, Fruits 
, Samuel Bispham, Hats 
I William Henry, Coppersmith 



Philip Sommerkamp, Drugs 
Thomas Rose, Merchant 
BenJ. Horner & Son, Iron 
Jacob Parke, Ironmonger 
Hall & Sellers, Printers 

139 \ O. and B. Maguire, James Hutton, Ironmonger 

141 J Whiskeys Atkinson Rose, Tailor 

143 Julius C. Strehlaus 

John Richards, Ironmonger 
145 , Loan Office John Hughes, Shopkeeper 



1785 

Jacob Baker, Merchant 

William Ball, Magistrate 

William Pritchard, Books 
Mary Jacobs 

John Layman 



Geo. Hunter, Drugs 

Jacob Parkes 

{Thonms Cullin 
William Hall 
Thomas Fitzgerald 
John Miller 
Curtis Clay 
David C. Claypoole 
Henry Land 



SOUTH SIDE, FRONT STREET TO SECOND 



100 A. Dlrich, Tobacconist 

102 Shellenberger, Candy 

104 A. Bozzano Fruit 

106 George Eales, Restaurant 

108 Philip T. Mattson, Teas 

110 Shane Candy Co., Candy 

112 Feltig & Son, Meats 

114 American Stores Co., 

Groceries 

116 Schmidt, Saloon 



John Lindsay, China 
Jacob Earnest, Fruits 
Malcolm Wright, Coppersmith 
Robert Aitken, Printer 
James Taylor 

Nathaniel Thomas, Teas 
Wm. Y. Rogers, Merchant 
Richard Hopkins, Ironmonger 

Alexander FuUerton 



Eleazer Oswald, Coffee House 
Eleazer Oswald, Printer 
Robert Aitken, Printer 
Vincent Pelose, 

Pennsylvania Coffee House 
Thomas Seddon, Books 

Richard Hopkins, Ironmonger 



Edward Pole 



118 George W. Wagner, f 

Provisions \ 
120 Wm. Moland's Sons, Meats 
122 El Basco Cigar Mfg. Co. 

Express Office 
124 Phtenix Paint and 

Varnish Co. 
126 John H. Wood Co., Drugs 
128 Rieder's Money Loan Office 
130 E. S. Hann, Meats 
132 John Holeton, Restaurant 

134 1 Horn & Hardart, 

136) Restaurant 

135 J. P. Nlckles, Candy 
140 Thron, Saloon 



LETITIA STREET 

Daniel Perrin, Shoes 
Jacob Kanous, Shoes 
John Carrell, Ironmonger 
Wm. Pearson, Hats 
Margaret Bosborn 
Benjamin Clarke, Clocks 
Wm. Shlbe, Grocer 
Henry Manley, Shoes 
Martha Fox, Milliner 
Anthony Simmons, Jeweler 
Sam'l Alexander. Jeweler 
James H. Cole, Hats 
Michael Kean, Shoes 
Jonathan and Thomas Dungan, 

Grocers 
James McGlathery, Ironmonger 
Francis Courtney, Shoes 
Smith & Conard, Shoes 



John and James Whitehead 
John McCalllster 
Benj. Nones, Broker 
Deborah Claypoole 
Jonas Phillips 
Henry Manly, Shop 
Abraham Sink 
Alexand>^r Fullerton 
Mary Flnley, Shop 

Geo. Wittinghum & Co. 
Dunlap & Claypoole, Printers 
Wm. Thomas, Shop 
Wm. Adcock, Shop 



SOUTH SIDE, SECOND STREET TO THIRD 



201 Columbia Spa, Restaurant 
203 Matlack, Kern & Co., 

Hardware 
205 Wm. F. Englehart, 

Jewelry 
207 H. J. Glocke, Corks 



S. K. Miler, Shoes 

L Kensington Carpet Co.. 

Furniture 



Stokes Seed House 
Fisher, Bruce & Co., 



China 



Fred'k Shinckle, Grocer 
Saulnier & Wilson, Drapers 

Jacob Hamer, Tailor 

Burr Ridgway, Merchant 

Hannah Hodge 

Michael Newbold, Merchant 

John Willis, Shoes 

Margaret Hall, Shop 

Enoch Green, Tavern 

BenJ. Harbeson & Son, Copper 

Jacob Benninghove, Jr., 

Tobacconist 
Abraham Patton, Clocks 



Peter January 
Margaret Henderson 

Paul Beck 



Elizabeth Redman 
John Hall 



BenJ. Harbeson 
Mary Brown 
Joseph Brown 

John Evans 

Geo. Roberts, Ironmonger 



Appendix 



205 



GRINDSTONE ALLEY 



1918 
223 National State Bank of 

Camden 
225 Army and Navy Store 
227 Mintzer & Kneisler, 

Butchers' and Bakers' 

Supplies 
229 A. Slndaco, Clothing 
231 , Lamps 

233 1 Acorn Knitting Mills 
235 / H. J. Auerbach & Co. 

Anderson & Barr, Corsets 
237 F. W. Wlnne & Son, Twine 



239 
241 
243 

245 

247 

249 
251 
253 
255 



257 
259 



M. Segal, Hosiery 
Market St. Novelty Store 
Howard Jewelry and 

Loan Co. 
Besser Bros., Clothing 

The J. E. Fricke Rope and 

Twine Co. 
Goldstein, Shoes 
Express OlBce 



Steinberg Bros., 

Wholesale Notions 

Reliable Photo Studio 

Keystone Clothing Mfg. 



1801 
.Joseph Price, Hats 
Benj. and Myles Griffiths, Hats 
Mary M'Alister, Store 
Wm. Ross & Co., Merchants 
Geo. Abbott, Drugs 

Joseph and James Cruikshank, 
Books, Stationery 

James Guilbest & Co., 

Merchants 
f Leeson Simmons, Mariner 
1 Joseph Simmons, Ironmonger 
f Sarah and H. Crispin, Shop 
\ James Darrach, Hats 

C. Roberts, Ironmonger 
C Jonathan Carrnalt, Shop 

(Caleb Carrnalt 

Wlltberger & Smith, 

Ironmongers 

Samuel Archer, Merchant 

Wm. Chancellor & Co., Mchts. 

Isaac Pearson, Paper 

David Seeger, Candy 

Mary Daly, Shop 
f John Walker, Ironmonger 
I Michael Baker, Tin 
/ Donald Catnach, Fruit 
I Thomas Hirst, Tin 



1785 
Owen Biddle 
Lambert Wllmer 



Joseph Cruikshank 
Rebecca Carrnalt 

Joseph Paschall 

Deshler & Roberts, Ironmongers 

Wm. Jackson 

Margaret Stark 
Robert Smock 

Freese & Chancellor, Merchants 
Miss Dally 
Widow Roweman 

John Bartram, Drugs 
John Knight 



Sureflt Skirt Co. 



Co. 



SOUTH SIDE, SECOND STREET TO THIRD 



200 United Cigar Stores Co. 

RosenkofE & Sharp. 

Boys' Pants 

S. K. Miller, Shoes 
202) A. R. Underdown's Sons, 
204) Men's Furnishings 
206 Llggett's, Drugs 
208 W. Stomel & Son, Clothing 

2J2 } H. Llpschutz, Clothing 

M. Greengross, 

Coats and Suits 
214 R. A. Tolllnger, Optician 

W. F. McCaffrey 



John Elliott Cresson, 

Conveyancer 



Joseph B. Smith, Iron 
Widow Kitts, Innkeeper 
John Arnold, Shoes 
Robert Taylor, Fruits 
Joseph Meisson, Grocer 
James Costalo, Shoes 
Charles Wall, Glover 
.James McDonald, Tavern 



Richard Humphries, Goldsmith 



John Harland 



STRAWBERRY STREET 



216 A. Stein, Jeweler 

218 David Hilborn, Hats 

220 General Express Office 

222 C. A. Longstreth Co. 

224 Potts Drug Co. 

226 Finkelman Bros., Tobacco 

228 B. B. Todd, 

Musical Instruments 

230 Porto Rico Coffee MUls 



Matthias Lamar, Silversmith 
Thos. Kelly, Shoes 
Griffith Edwards, Grocer 
Esther Vrendenburg, Shop 
Isaac Vrendenburg, Mariner 
Wm. Holdernesse, Mcht. 
Mary Baker, Shop 

Lewis Taylor, Shop 



BenJ. Betterton, Cooper 
Spotswood & Rice 
John Hemill 
Wm. Lawrence, Tavern 
Charles Pryor, Grocer 
Mary Jones, Shop 
Robert Towers 

Evans Towers 



BANK STREET 



232 1 L. 
234/ 
236 B, 



238 



H. Parke Co., 

Teas and Coffees 
C. Tlllinghast, 

Rubber Goods 
John F. Jelke Co., 

Margerlne 



Michael Kltts, Innkeeper 
Earl Downs, Shoes 
Thos. Hockley, Iron 



Shakespeare & Compston 
Joseph Anthony, Jewelry 



206 



Appendix 



1918 
240 Levltzky & Winer, 

Coats and Suits 
A. Welnrach, Hats 
Girard Dress Co. 
242 Market St. Restaurant 
244 Union Shoe Repairing 

Reliable Clothing Co. 
246 First National Bank of 
Camden 
Mandel Bros., Clothing 
Junior Clothing Co. 
Dickman, Axolrod & Perl- 
man, Hats 
248 Charles Hunt, Saloon 

NORTH 
301 Thos. Scanlon, Saloon 

303 Post Cigar Co. 
305 Barnett Shoe Co. 
307 Plauen Lace Co. 

Menkle Bros., Clothing 
309 H. B. Hanford. 

Rubber Shoes 
311 Central Shoe Mfg. Co. 
313 John F. Mcllvaine Co., 

Wholesale Shoes 
315 Weil, Bachrach & Co., 

Men's Furnishings 
317 A. Schwartz & Sons, 

Shoes 
319 E. C. Vahle, Pets 
Back — A. P. Fraim, 

Builder 
Markovitz Bros., 

Wall Papers 
Seltzer Bros., 

Coats and Skirts 
M. Charlup, 

Clothing Manufacturer 
325 Epstein, Laison & Co., 

Auctioneers 
327 Bloch Bros., Hosiery 
329 S. Bookler Figure Co. 
American Mnfrs. Co., 

Pottery, Glass 
H. Shatz, Waists 
331 Eastern Auction House 

333 Market Street Theatre 

335 Mexican Diamond Co. 
337 Willy's Busy Bee, Cafe 
Miller & Greenburg, 

Clothing 
Brettschneider Bros., 

Pants 



BODINE STREET 
1801 
Isaac C. Jones, Dry Goods 



Hopkins & Howell, Iron 
Samuel Meeker, Shoes 



Peter Grassard, Grocer 



1785 
Comegy's, Paul & Co. 
Sidney Paul 



Geo. Westcott 



Mary Garrigues 



Robert Smith, Hats 



SIDE, THIRD STREET TO FOURTH 



32 
323 



1} 



Richard Wister & Konigmacher, 

Iron 
Anthony Ruston, Fruits 
Samuel Brooks, Glover 
Catharine Brooks, Widow 

Eliz. Smith, Shopkeeper 

Henry Schell, Tin Plate 

Ann and Sarah Ashbrldge, Shop 

John Porter, Brush Mfgr. 

Edward Shoemaker, Mcht. 

Mrs. DeCharms, Boarding 

Sam'l Eldredge, Mcht. 
Thomson & Price, Mchts. 



John Cook, Mcht. 

Thomas Wister, Gentleman 
Gideon H. Wells, Gentleman 



John Kean 

Wm. Kepley 
Conrad Pates 
Robert Porter 

Henry Commerce 

Aaron Ashbridge 
Ruth Collins 

James Shoemaker 

Adam Zantzlnger 

Jones & Foulke 

Israel Whelan 
Caspar Synger & Sons 



William Geese 
Daniel Wister 



339 Automat — Restaurant 

341 Phil. M. Cades, 

Men's Furnishings 
C. C. Hancock Co., 

Neckwear 



John and Abraham Singer, 

Mchts. 
Lohra & Carlile, Mchts. 

Garrigues & Marshall, Mchts. 
Daniel Wister, Gentleman 
Wm. and John Wister, Jr., 

Mchts. 
John M. Price, Mcht. 
John Lisle, Jr., Mcht. 
Ben;, and Jacob Johnson, 

Printers 
Back — Twells Morris & Co., 

Brewery 
Jacob Justice & Co., Mchts. 
Jonathan Jones, Mcht. 
Owen and Jonathan Jones, 

Mchts. 
Jes.se Sharpless, Dry Goods 
Laurence Seckel, Wine Mcht. 



Wister & Aston 

Reuben and Caspar Haines, 

Brewers 
Emanuel Josephson 
Owen Jones, Sr. 
J. Jones and D. Foulke 



Jared Ingersoll 



Laurence Seckel 



SOUTH 
300 Cadmus Bro.s., Shoes 
302 American Neckwear Co. 
304 Weintraub Leather Co. 
306 Marks, Strausman & Co., 

Auctioneers 
308 Max Weinroth, Hosiery 

Model Cap Co. 
310 Riggs & Brother, Watches 
312 Hoffman-Corr Co., 

Rope, Flags 
N. Myers & Son, Clothing 
314 Neimrow & Hlrsh, 

Auctioneers 
316 H. M. Lakoff, 

Candy, Tobacco, etc. 



SIDE, THIRD STREET TO FOURTH 

John Fries, Merchant ) 

Geo. Dobson, Merchant 

Joseph Anthony, Goldsmith 

Robt. Evans, Jr., Hats 

Jonathan Lukens, Saddler 

Joseph Hardy, Innkeeper 



Mrs. Rachael Greble, Innkeeper 
Bradley & Keighler, 

Coppersmiths 

James Poultney, Iron 

James Humphrey, Printer 



■ Jail 

Poultney & Wistar 

Henry Kepley 

Peter Wlltberger 
Randolph Marlow 



Thos. Poultney & Sons 



Appendix 



207 



1918 

318 Schimmel Electric Supply 
Co. 

M. Sussman, Son & Stein- 
berg, Clothing 

Bakery and Lunch Co. 



320 
322 

326 } P'Of^*"" Knitting Mfg. Co. 
328 



330 
332 



334 
336 



Joseph Lipman & Son, 

Underwear 

Philadelphia Notion and 

Novelty House 
Rbelnheimer Bros., 

Clothing 
Ideal Shoe Co. 
B. Mandel & Son, Clothing 
Schiff Bros., Stationers 



338 Hess & Co., 

Men's Furnishings 



SOUTH ORIANNA STREET 
1801 
Charles Gilchrist, Mcht. 



Seth Craig & Co., Saddlers 
Chas. Schroeder, Confectioner 
Robt. Bass, Drugs 
John Collet, Sea Captain 
Mat hew Carey, Printer 

Klaer, Graff & Co., Mchts. 
John Gravenstone, Fruits 



John Poultney, Iron 
Poultney & Cumming, Hardware 
Wm. Richard, Skin Dresser 
David Richards, Hats 
H. Crossman, Grocer 



1785 
Emanuel Seger 



James Bryson 
Jehoshophat Polke 
Robert Bass 
Francis Bailey 
Francis Shingle 

John Grafts 
John PhUe 



Thos. Poultney 
Wm. Richards 
Grler, McCarter & Co. 



NORTH SIDE, FOURTH STREET TO FIFTH 



401 
403 
405 
407 
409 
411 
413 
415 



417 
419 
421 

423 

425 
427 
429 



Central Trust and Savings 
Co. 



De Cou Bros. Co., Shoes 
H. Herold & Son, Clothing 
Kenner & Gustow, Laces 
W. G. Hollls, Chocolate 



N. J. Dilworth, Hardware 
Express Office 
Fisher & Dutkin, 

Raincoats 
C. D. Gibbon & Son, 

Wholesale Shoes 



Lesher & Warner Dry 
Goods Co. 



431 Zimmerman Hardware Co. 

433 Subway Entrance 

435 Gem Jewelry Shop 

437 Economy Shoe Store 

439 Shane Candy Co. 

441 David Netter & Co., 

Liquors 



John Davis & Co., Mchts. 
Richard Marls, Mcht. 
Wm. W. Smith, Mcht. 
Lawrence Herbert, Shop 
John White, Drugs 
Cresson & Wain, Mchts. 
Stephen Phlpps, Shop 
Philip Stimel, Tobacco 
Roberts & Lyne, Copper 

PARADISE ALLEY 

Honry Kennedy. Innkeeper 
Lewis Mathey, Clock Maker 
Joseph Blaine, Bottles 

John Knorr, Cooper 

Robert Coe & Son, Brush Mfgr. 
Godfrey Twells, Brewer 
Shannon & Poalk, Auctioneers 
William Shannon, Auctioneer 
Back— Sam'l Sullivan & Co., 

Potters 
Petor Kulin, Mcht. 
Benj. Scull. Hats 
Parke & McFarland, Grocers 
<ieo. Willig, Musical Magazine 
Benj. WetheriU, China Mcht. 
Elizabeth Cottlnger, China 
Jacob Barge. Gentleman 
John and Charles Ellet, Iron 
Jacob Sherry & Co., Mchts. 



Michael Gratz 
Francis Lee 
Susannah Stanley 
Chamless Allen 
Patrick Hare 
Thomas Gowcher 
Isaac Connelly 
John Knorr 



Wm. Stanley, Sr. 
Wm. Stanley, Jr. 



Kuhn & Risberg 
Thomas Forrest 



James Porter 

Widow Bemen 

Peter Eashier 
Jacob Barge 
Barge & Nelson 



SOUTH SIDE, FOURTH STREET TO FIFTH 



402 
402 1 
404 / 
406 I 

408 / 
410 

412 1 
414 / 
416 
418 
420 1 
422 / 
424 
426 1 
428 f 
430 



432 
434 
436 
438 
440 



United Cigar Stores Co. 
Max Elfman & Co., 

Clothing 

Bell Telephone Co. 

Stuart Bros. Co., 

Stationers 
Philadelphia Talking 

Machine Co. 
Rockwood Knitting Mill 
I. Rosenberg, Umbrellas 
William R. Gordon, 

Stationer 
Newark Shoe Co. 
Lincoln Silk Knitting 

Mills 
Moskovitz & Herbach, 

Sporting Goods 

Dennett's Restaurant 
Phil. Sander, Post Cards 
A. Baraff, Clothing Mfgr. 
I. N. Simon & Son, Seeds 
Peermont Cigar Co. 



John Decamps, Mcht. 
Wm. Jones, Saddler 
Wm. McDougall, Hats 
T. B. Freeman, Mcht. 
Mary Nicholas 
Geo. Davis, Grocer 
Lewis Farmer, Innkeeper 

John Biddle. Drugs 
Wm. Phillips, Saddler 
James Smith, Iron 
Pancoast & Walker, Iron 
John Riple, Tobacco 

I Bickham & Reese, Merchants 

Wm. Rihle, Leather 

John Poultney, Sr., Iron 

John N. Hagenau, Mcht. 

Adolph Ehrlnghaus, Mcht. 

Joseph Baldesqui, Gentleman 

Geo. Heyl, Tobacco 

Martin & Holmes, Saddlers 

Ehenezer Branham, Innkeeper 

Aimf Lavenir. Grocer 

Geo. SheafE & Co., Wine Mchts. 



Geo. Cooper 
John Brown 
Col. Jos. Shippen 
John Steinmetz 



Widow Jenkins 
Sam'l Nicolas, Tavern 

Widow Greenleaf 

John Dixon, Tobacco 

Widow Wistar 

John Davidson. Saddler 

Jesse Greenleaf 

Robert Roberts 

Wm. Facundas 

Daniel Clymer, Attorney 

Geo. Bickham 



Geo. Reinholdt, Books 
John Stein 



Ezra Jones 



208 



Appendix 



NORTH SIDE, FIFTH STREET TO SIXTH 



oOl 
503 
505 

507 

509 
513 

515 \ 
517 / 
519 

521 

523 
525 

5j27 
529 

531 

533 
535 



1918 
United Cigar Stores Co. 
Havertord Cycle Co. 
B. B. Abrahams & Co., 

Army and Navy Goods 
New England Sample Shoe 

Samuel S. Novor, Coats 
Hall, Boles & Co., 

Dry Goods 
Edward Whitehill." 

Furniture 
L. II. Hartman & Son, 

Sporting Goods 
Shields & Bro., Hardware 



Beam-Fletcher Corp., 

Truck Service 

Wm. Mann Co., 

Blank Books, etc. 
J. G. Grieb & Co., 

Boots and Shoes 
National Uniform Co. 
Seltzer-Klabr 

Hardware Co. 



1801 
Guier & Diebl, Mchts. 
.loseph Dilwortb, Ironmonger 
Henry Zantzlnger, Mcht. 

John Guier, Wine Mcht. 

Jacob Hassinger, Mcht. 
William Bates, Tobacco 

Frederick Eckstein, Mcht. 

Widow Pemberton 

Tlios. Passmore, Tin Plat* 

Wm. Bell 

r Wm. Phillips, Gentleman 
I Thos. Smith, Gentleman 
Jacob Slioemaker, Insurance 

Lewis Neill, Mcht. 

Henry & Boggs, Mchts. 

Alex. Henry, Mcht. 

Richard Humphreys, China 

John Clein, Mcht. 

Nathan and David Sellers, Wire 



1785 
Samuel Hudson 
Israel Jones 
Dr. James Dunlap 

Simon Staticorn 



Chas. Chamberlain 



John Pemberton 

Thos. Palmer 
Wm. Bell, Mcht. 

Doctor Moore 
Ebenezer Large 

Christopher Waggman 

Dr. Joseph Redman 

Nathan Sellers 



SOUTH SIDE, FIFTH STREET TO SIXTH 



500 
502 

504 
506 
508 

510 
512 
514 
516 
518 

520 

522 

524 
526 

528 



C. Moore & Co., Twines 
National Uniform and 

Equipment Co. 
Bassett Ice Cream Co. 
Henry J. Rife, Leather 
Rudolph Toy and Novelty 

Co. 



Cochrane & Thursby, Mchts. 
Wm. Jones, Gentleman 

Edward Lynch, Mcht. 
Jonathan Miller, Mcht. 



530 
532 
534 
536 



R. D. Wilson Co., Novelties 
Henry F. Mlchell Co., 

Seeds 
American Clothing Co. 

Simon Miller & Sons, 

Shoes 

G. Zorn & Co., Novelties 

E. H. Fatten & Co., ^ 

Rwv. Supplies L 

J. A. Schwartz Co., f 

Jewelry Novelties J 

}Wanamaker & Brown, 
Oak Hall 



Abraham Kinsey, Gentleman 
Henry Sheaff, Wine Mcht. 



Anthony and John Kennedy, 

Mchts. 



John Francis, Hotel 



Robert Kid, Copper Mcht. 



William Sheaff 
Widow House 



William Jones 



Robert Morris, Mcht. 



John Dickinson, 

President of Pennsylvania 



NORTH SIDE, SIXTH STREET TO SEVENTH 



601 ) 

603 >• Snyder Bros., Clothing 
605 3 

607 Dr. Cauffman, Specialist 



1 Edw. K. Tryon, 

J Sporting Goods 

\ Penn Furniture Co. 

Gately & Fitzgerald, 
Furniture and Clothing 

Glanz, Hall & Co., 

Carpets and Rugs 
Sheibley-Tyler Co., Hosiery 



Hugh and John Jackson, Mchts. Joseph Donaldson, Sr. 
John Grandom, Gentleman - - • « 



609 
611 
613 
615 
617 
619 



621 
623 

625 

627 
629 
631 
633 

635 
637 



Quaker City Rubber Co. 
Army Supply Co. 
Chas. J. Fields Sons, 

Hardware 

Zavakos & Bro., Candy 



Joseph Reed, Attorney 

Thos. B. Zantzlnger, Attorney 

Susannah Stanley, Boarding 

Peter Cress, Saddler 

John Smith, Gentleman 

.lohn Capp, Grocer 

Chas. Blddle, Protbonotary 

James Knox, Grocer 

Dubbs & Earl, Mchts. 

John Smith, Ironmonger 
Jacob Reese, Mcht. 

.Joseph Warner, Carpenter 
Back-Gideon Co., Coopers 
James N. Taylor, Grocer 
Rugan & Rhodes, Grocers 
Adam Halns, Grocer 
Eliz. Febiger. Gentlewoman 

Samuel Fulton, Grocer 



f John Grandham 
\ Conrad Ryng 



Captain Budden 

John Rozes 

Thomas Smith, Loan Offices 

John Nancanoue, Surveyor 



Christopher Tord 

John Parker, Shop 

Nicholas Rape 
Philip Trinloc 
Geo. Shields 
John Lukener 

Claphamson 
Francis Roushes 
Geo. Bryning 



Appendix 



209 



SOUTH SIDE, SIXTH STREET TO SEVENTH 



eoo 

602 
604 
608 
909 
610 
612 

614 
616 



1918 
United Cigar Stores Co. 

Bainbrldge, Shoes 
Auction House 

Joel Baily Davis Co., 
Hosiery, White Goods, 
Notions 



Mershon, Jewelry 
Akron Tire Co. 



1801 
Joshua B. Bond, Mcht. 
Peter Gravenstine, Fruits 
Henry C. Helmuth, Minister 
John Mickle, Grocer 
Geo. Strayley, Innkeeper 
Wm. Marley. Shoemaker 
Peter Eigelberner. Baker 
Philip Dick, Grocer 

Adam Lechler, Reedmaker 
Thomas Pearson, Saddler 



1785 
William Jones 



Israel Whelen 



Thos. Craig 
Domlnick Fishpack 
Michael Shoemaker 
David Kennedy, 

Sec. of The Land Tax 
Chas. Young 



MARSHALL STREET 



Wm. Thomson, Grocer 
Chas. Barrington, Fruits 
John TomUnson, Innkeeper 



620 } ^^^^ Theatre 

622 Krugiin Bros., Clothing 

624) 

626 y George Kelly, Installments Joseph Lehman, Drugs 

628 j 

630 Auction House Thomas Graham, Grocer 

632 Frank H. Crammer, 

Saloon 
634 Gates, Candy 



William Turner 
Geo. Ingles 
Edward McCowen 
Mary Mathews 
James Finley 
Baltis Emerick 
Nicholas Rash 
John Dunlap 

Nicholas Mocks 
Charles Steltz 



NORTH SIDE, SEVENTH STREET TO EIGHTH 



701 

703 
705 

707 

709 
711 
713 

715 
717 
719 
721 

723 
72.1 
727 
729 
731 
733 
735 
737 
739 



Lit Brothers 

Department Store 



Philip Stein & Co., Mchts. 

Henry Steever & Co., Mchts. 

Owen and Chas. Foulke, Mchts. 

John Kibler, Flour 

Martin Odenbaugh, Hairdresser 

John Perot, Mcht. 

J. H. Brinton, Attorney 

Peter Lex, Grocer 

John Dunwoody, Innkeeper 

Jacob Trasel, Grocer 

Richard North, Stonecutter 

Henry W. Muhlenberg, 

Wine Mcht. 
Geo. Sheaff, Wine Mcht. 



Elliston Perot, Mcht. 



Widow McCullough 



Thomas Murgatroyd 



Jeffry Garret 



1 Israel Whelen 

J Purveyor of Public Supplies Widow Walker 



700) 
702/ 

704 

706 

708 

710 

712) 

714/ 

716 

718 



720 

722 1 
724 / 
726 

728 
730 

732 
734 

736 



SOUTH SIDE, SEVENTH STREET TO EIGHTH 

Penn National Bank 
Hess, Men's Furnishings 



Jacob Cox, Mcht. 

G. Simon and Hyman Gratz, 

Mchts. 
Baltis Emerick, Baker 
Batt Doyle, Distiller 



"The Famous Lunch" 
Stern & Co., Instalments 

Yellow Trading Stamp 

Premium Store 
Kohn, Adler & Co., 

Trimmings 

Smith & Hartnett, 

Millinery 

Horn & Hardart, 

Restaurant 
Geo. B. Evans, Drugs 
Hanscom Bros., 

Groceries, Lunch 
United Cigar Stores Co. 



Richard Randle 
Jacob Carter 



Eliz. Rouse 
John Hinckle, Potter 
Geo. Apple, Hairdresser 
Thos. Murgatroyd, Mcht. 

Sam'l Murgatroyd, Mcht. 

Thos. Cadwalader, Attorney 
Henry Steever, Grocer 
John Watson, Mcht. 

John Hills, Surveyor 
Mary Hills, 

Academy for Young Ladles 
Benj. Chew, Attorney 
Wm. Rawie, U. S. Attorney 

Geo. Wescot, Copper Mcht. 



Rebecca Shoemaker 
Benj. Shoemaker 



Christopher Boyes 
John Brayfield 



Henry Creamer 



Wm. Lowman 



210 



Appendix 



NORTH SIDE, EIGHTH STREET TO NINTH 





1918 




1801 




801 


Strawbridge & Clothier's 


David Seckel, Grazier 


Geo. Sickle 


803 






Robert Fielding, Coachmaker 
Clayton Earl, Mcht. 


David Sickle 


805 






Eliz. Damon 


807 






Geo. Davis, Grocer 


James Talbot 


809 






Ezekiel Maddock, Grocer 




811 






John Guest, Merchant 




813 






Geo. Davis, Law Books 




815 






Samuel Breck, Gentleman 




817 






Geo. Relnold, Gentlemen 




819 






Robt. Fielding, Coachmaker 




821 






Caspar W. Morris, Brewer 




823 






Rebecca Shoemaker, 

Gentlewoman 












825 






Sam's Plasants, Mcht. 




K27 






Paul Sieman, Mcht. 




829 
831 
833 1 
835/ 
837 










Blauner's Women's 

F. and W. Grant, 
5c, 10c and 25c 


Suits 


















Store 






839 


Bachrach, Clothing 









1785 



SOUTH SIDE, EIGHTH STREET TO NINTH 



800 

802 
804 
806 
808 
810 
812 
814 

816 
818 
820 
822 
824 
826 
828 
830 
832 
834 
836 
838 



Gimbel Brothers John Smith, Marble Mason 

Department Store 
" Joel Wescott, Carter 



John Whittle 



M. Gunkle 
Simon Gratz, Grocer 
Wm. Hamilton, Carpenter 
Thos. Leiper, Tobacconist 
A. J. Dallas, 

Secretary of Commonwealth 
Paul Beale, Cabinet-maker 



Oliver Evans, 

Dealer in Bolting Cloths, etc. 



NORTH SIDE, NINTH STREET TO TENTH 



901 
903 
905 
907 
909 
911 

913 
915 
917 
919 
921 
923 
925 
927 
929 
931 
933 
93." 
937 
939 



1918 
Palace Jewelry Shop 
Dennett's Restaurant 
■Corsln Bros., Women's Apparel 

I. Press & Sons, Jewelry 
Automat Restaurant 
A. Schulte, Cigars 

>■ Victoria Theatre 



[ P. T. Hallahan, Shoes 



1859 
Geo. W. Henry, Hardware 



Pemberton Smith, Hardware 

E. McGovern, China 

R. D. Manigle, Stoves 

P. R. Johnson, Dry Goods 



H. Longstreth, Books 



E. L. Nicholas, Dry Goods 



\ S. E. Kresge, 25e Department Store 
Hanscom Bros. Restaurant 

S. E. Kresge Co., 5 and 10c Store 
I Thomas Martlndale Co., Grocers 



S. P. Hanner, Saddler 
Joseph J. Mlckley, Pianos 
John W. Shellenberger, Hotel 



G. Brlntzinghoffer. Brushes 
William Pollock, Carpets 
John Hollins, China 
Swope & Co., Grocers 



Appendix 



211 



SOUTH SIDE, NINTH STREET TO TENTH 



1918 



1859 



900 

902 

904 

906 

908 

910 

912 

914 

916 

918 

920 

922 

924) 

926/ 

928 

930 

9321 

934/ 

936 

938 

940 

942 



Post-Office 



W. T. Grant Co., 25c Department Store 

M. Spitzer, Millinery 

L. Dannenbaum Son & Co., Silks 

Otto Eisenlohr & Bro., Cigars 

Rexford Co., Gifts 

Harry Quinn, Saloon 

Andrew Forbes, Liquors 

United Cigar Stores Co. 

Kauffman, Hats 



E. Matlack, Boys' Clothing 

Jolin Hagey, Confectionery 

R Davis, Boots and Shoes 

Thomas E. Baxter, Hardware 

Hagner Bros., Dry Goods 

B. Schultz, Jeweler 

Fowler & Townsend, Confectionery 

M. Gerstley, Clothing 

A. Freiday, Clothing 

Robert Buist, Seeds 

Smith's, Hats 
H. Hilly, Boots and Shoes 
Robert Taylor, China 
Samuel Hano, Clothing 
Monroe, Boots and Shoes 



Samuel Hano, Clothing 

E. Franklin, Boots and Shoes 



NORTH SIDE, TENTH STREET TO ELEVENTH 



1001 
1003 
1005 
1007 
1009 
1011 
1013 
1015 
1017 
1019 
1021 
1023 
102.') 
1027 
1029 
1031 
1033 
1035 



The Earle Store 



Rival Shoe Co., Inc. 
Stewart, Women's Apparel 
Hill Co., Clothing 
Henry Netter, Wines 

j Frank & Seder, Women's Apparel 



Emerick & Son, Hardware 
B. Randall, Bedding 
J. Colton, Hardware 



W. H. Knight, Hardware 
G. B. Haines, Dry Goods 



W. J. Warren Cabinet-maker 

R. D. and W. H. Pennell, Dry Goods 

T. A. Bailey, Auctioneer 



Bull's Head Hotel, Dan'l Bare 



James Robinson, Jeweler 
(iraham & Martin, Grocers 
V. Archambault, Dry Goods 



SOUTH SIDE, TENTH STREET TO ELEVENTH 



10001 
1002 / 
1004) 

loofi y 

1008 j 

10101 

1012/ 

1014 

1016 

1018 

10201 

1022^ 

1024) 

1026 

1028 

1030 

1032 

1034 

1036 

1038 

1040 

1042 



Child's Restaurant 

Metropolitan 5 to 50c Store 

Geo. B. Evans, Drugs 

Nelser Bros., 5-10-25c Store 
Princess Theatre 

F. W. Woolworth 5 and 10c Store 



Jerome H. Remick & Co., Music 

Schless, Jeweler 

Newcorn & Green, Tailors 

Sarnoff-Irvlng, Hats 

Hanover Shoe 

Guilford, Men's Furnishings 

Montague & Co., Candy 

New Bingham Hotel 



Sleeper's, Umbrellas 
B. Isaacs, Clothier 
James B. HoUins, China 
J. S. Clark, Stoves 



J. Graham, Clothing 

John H. Brown, Boots and Shoes 

Marv Lewis, Tavern 

D. Ray & Son, Clothing 

Adolph Klopfer, Clothing 

John Struthers & Co., Marble Works 

R. S. Walton, Hats 

Samuel Bond, Boots and Shoes 

J. C. Stevens, Boots and Shoes 



Thomas S. Brown, Boots and Shoes 



John Mirkil, Boots and Shoes 
Mansion House, Stamp & Lukens 



212 



Appendix 



NOETH SIDE, ELEVENTH STREET TO TWELFTH 



1101 

1103 

1105 

1107 

11091 

llllj 

1113 



1} 



1115 

111 

1119 

1121 

1123 

1125 

1127 

1129 

1131 

1133 

1135 

1137 

1113 



1918 
Geo. B. Wells, Hats 
John Lltras & Co., Candy 
Peermont Cigar Co. 
Market Street National Bank 

Philadelphia Inquirer 

W. L. Douglas, Shoes 

Entrance to Reading Railroad OflBces 

Reld & Fort, Men's Furnishings 



Entrances to Reading Terminal 



Finley Acker Co., Grocers 

Cohen's Drug Store 
to 1137 Reading Terminal 



1859 
J. H. Parker, Grocer 
Charles McNeal, Tinner 
James Barr, Books 
T. M. Kerr, Grocer 
F. G. Fraser, Cabinet-maker 



B. H. Burnett, Jeweler 



R. E. Johnson, Cabinet-maker 



Black Horse Hotel, T. R. Kachline 

Barton & Smiley, Grocers 
Robert Martin, Cabinet-maker 



SOUTH SIDE, ELEVENTH STREET TO TWELFTH 



1100 
1102 
1104 
1106 
1108 
1110 
1112 
1114 
1116 
1118 
1120 
1122 
1124 
1126 
1128 
1130 
1132 
1134 
1136 
1138 
1140 
1142 



N. Snellenburg Co., Department Store 



Campbell Bros., Grocers 
J. B. Capewell. Ambrotypes 
Louis Hano, Clothier 
Hart & Phipps, Stoves 
Ptell & Bro., Hats 
William Dunn, Carpets 
E. Isaacs, Clothier 



J. Spear, Stoves 



P. Mclntyre, Clothier 
Samuel Hill, Stoves 



H. J. White, Ranges 



C. Williams, Ranges 
William Miller, Carpets 
J. Woodward, Flour 



J. McKnight, Stoves 
William Patton, Grocer 



NORTH SIDE, TWELFTH STREET TO THIRTEENTH 



1201 

1201 

1203 

1205'| 

1207)- 

1209) 

1211 

1213 

1215 

1217 

1219) 

1221/ 

1223 

1225 

1227 

1229 

1231 

1233 

1235 

1237 



Hotel Brvson 

United Cigar Stores Co. 

Child's Restaurant 

J. G. McGrory Co., 5 and 10c Store 

Savoy Theatre 



E. W. Fisher, Dry Goods 



Theodore Netter 
United Hat Stores 

George B. Evans, Drugs 

Morris Gross. Jeweler 
Horn & Horn. Restaurant 
Keim Supply Co., Sporting Goods 
Cugley & Mullin. Pet Shop 
Ostendorf, Saloon and Restaurant 
W. P. Walters Sons, Hardware 
Sehless, Jewelry 
Colonial Trust Co. 
Jonas, Candy 



E. Warwick, Cabinet-maker 



J. T. Llnnard, Hardware 
D. Mershon, Ranges 
John V. Buck, Tinner 
Samuel Field, Cabinet-maker 
John Brown, Porter House 



John W. Clark, Tavern 
Allen Walton, Plumber 
C. D. Cassady, Baker 



Albert Gleason. Stoves 
D. and M. McCoIgan, Grocers 
J. Kisterbock & Son, Ranges 
Wm. P. Walter, Hardware 



John Davis, Books 



Appendix 



213 



SOUTH SIDE, TWELFTH STREET TO THIRTEENTH 



1200) 

1202; 

1204) 

120S). 

1208) 

1210) 

1212; 

1214) 

1216^ 

1218] 

1220) 

1222/ 

1224 

1226 

1228 

1230 

1232 

1232 

1234 

1236 

1238 

1240 



1918 
The Bedell Co., Women's Suits 

Dalslmer, Shoes 

Rlker-Hegeman Co., Drugs 

Palace Theatre 

Hardwick & Magee Co., Carpets 

Newark Shoe Co. 

The Regal Shoe Co. 

The Walkover Shoes 

A. H. Geuting Co., Shoes 

Hanscom Bros., Restaurant 

J. C. Zimmerman, Shoes 

M. Sternberg, Men's Furnishings 

Charles L. Parkes, Optician 

Montague & Co., Candy 

Peter Rabbit, Hats 



1859 
S. Smucker, Jr., & Co., Grocers 
R. Llgget, Cabinet-maker 
T. Toner, Boots and Shoes 



W. A. Martin, Boots and Shoes 
Stephen F. Whitman, Confectionery 



E. L. Thomas, Jeweler 

Mary E. Stuart, Cake Baker 

L. Knowles, Flour 

Jeremiah Christman, Tavern 

Fllley & Harvey, SUver Plate 



F. Campbell, Hats 

B. M. Brown, Clothier 



NORTH SIDE, THIRTEENTH STREET TO JUNIPER 



1301 
1301 
1303 
1305 
1305 
1307 
1309 
1311 
1313 
1315 
1317 
1319 
1321 
1323 
1325 



United Cigar Stores Co. 
Lefkoe Optical Co. 
Marcus & Co., Inc., Printers 
Frank I. Reizner, Shoes 
Guilford, Men's Furnishings 
Truly Warner, Hats 
Dennett's Restaurant 
Family Theatre 

Geo. B. Wells, Hats 

Entrance, Globe Theatre 

Automat 

C. E. Morris, Jewelry 

United Cigar Stores Co. 



George Bell, Drugs 
J. Booth, Dry Goods 
Pekln Tea Co. 



Jacob Emery, Hotel 



H. T. Standbridge, Hardware 
John Bradley, Hotel 



1300 

to 
1330 



SOUTH SIDE, THIRTEENTH STREET TO JUNIPER 
John Wanamaker, Department Store Freight Station, Pennsylvania Railroad 



NORTH SIDE, BROAD STREET TO FIFTEENTH 

1850 



1918 

Broad Street Station, 

Pennsylvania Railroad 



Unimproved 



SOUTH SIDE, BROAD STREET TO FIFTEENTH 



1918 

ills} Third National Bank 
1430 Carr Brothers, Saloon 
1432 Chas. N. Pappas, Candy 

1436 } •^■■'^ade Building 



1859 
John Folyard, Books 
W. SoCEe, Boots and Shoes 
A. P. Minis, Cabinet-maker 
John Mahon, Men's Furnishings 
H. R. Lewis, Cabinet-maker 
Amos H. Yamall, Drugs 



NORTH SIDE, FIFTEENTH STREET TO SIXTEENTH 



1501 

to Elevated Roadway, Pennsylvania Railroad 
1541 



1501 Robert Black, Grocer 

1509 Western Exchange Hotel 

1513 Suter & Shiver, Tinner 

1515 H. Deamer, Saddler 

1521 Guilllard & Marshall, Drags 



214 



Appendix 



SOUTH SIDE, FIFTEENTH STREET TO SIXTEENTH 



1500 
1502 
1504 
1506 

1508) 

1510/ 

1512 

1514) 

1516/ 

1518 

1520) 

1522/ 



1918 
Harrison Building 
Franklin Trust Co. 
Dowling & Keegan, Saloon 
Market Street Warehouse Co., 

Horn & Hardart, Restaurant 
Mullierin, Saloon 
Beckers, Clothing 
Warner's Men's Furnishings 
John Tbommen, Restaurant 



Pawnbrokers 



1859 
John Devine, Grocer 
Ward & Brown, Paperhanglngs 



John Kane, China 
Emma Elseberg, Millinery 
E. Robinson, Dry Goods 



M. A. Stewart, Dry Goods 



Charles Evans, Ambrotypes 



MOLE STREET 



1524 
1524 

to 
1542 
1526 
1528 
1530 
1532 
1534 
1536 
1538 
1540 
1542 



United Cigar Stores Co. 
Keystone Hotel 

Entrance, Office and Bar of Hotel 

Geo. I. Eakle, Hats 
M. Friedman, Jewelry 
Supplee, Hardware 

, Men's Furnishings 

H. C. Nuss, Candy 



John Lomax, Clothier 
A. Sharp, Hair Jewelry 
P. Coleman, Dry Goods 
J. Joel, Fancy Goods 
E. McPhilomy, Dry Goods 
Mrs. E. Walton, Millinery 



F. B. Elliott, Dry Goods 



NORTH SIDE, SIXTEENTH STREET TO SEVENTEENTH 



1601 
to Elevated Roadway, Pennsylvania Railroad 
1637 



1601 Walter Graham, Grocer 

1617 W. B. Barrett, Grocer 

1619 Daniel B. Beitler, Hotel 

1623 W. H. Taylor, Boots and Shoes 

1633 C. and R. J. McCune, Grocers 

1635 J. Creswell Hunt, Boots and Shoes 

1637 U. C. Bishop, Cabinet-maker 



SOUTH SIDE, SIXTEENTH STREET TO SEVENTEENTH 



1600 

1602 

1604 

16061 

1608 

1610 

1612 

1614 

1616-1 

1618 

1620 

1622 

1624 

1626 

1628 

1630 

1632) 

1634/ 

1636 

1638 

1640 

1642 

1644 



L. S. Dickey, Hats 

Howard H. Herbein, Jewelry 

N. J. Dilworth, Hardware 



Paul's Garage 



- Stanley Theatre 



H. L. McPhilomy, Dry Goods 
Cronln, Saloon 
S. Shepherd's Sons, Cigars 
Pine Bros., Candy 

Regent Theatre 

Daniel Dever, Whiskies 
Pentomy, Saloon 
Deft Devices Co. 
Eastern Tire Co. 
Money Loan Office 



Mr.s. J. Richardet, Millinery 
Eiseman & Bro., Clothing 
Lare & Walke.v, Boots and Shoes 
Morris & Jones Co., Iron 



Walter Hunter, Hats 



J. W. Clarke, Umbrellas 

Mrs. Small, Millinery 

W. S. Ringgold, Dry Goods 

Thos. Furey. Boots and Shoes 

H. A. Pue, Dry Goods 

S. Bisbing, Boots and Shoes 

D. B. Richards, Dry Goods 

R. A. Poulson, China 

C. Clayton, Boots and Shoes 



INDEX 



ABOLITION SOCIETY, 141 
ABOLITIONISTS AT NATIONAL HALL, 162, 

163 
ABSECON, 6 

ACADEMY OF THE FINE ARTS, PENNSYL- 
VANIA, 77, 136 
ACADEMY, GERMANTOWN, 33 
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES, 23, 24 
ADAMS, PRESIDENT JOHN, 70, 71, 100, 101, 
105, 106, 120, 148, 150 
Inauguration of, 71 

Occupies mansion on Market street, 105 
ADET, CITIZEN P. A., FRENCH MINISTER, 

159 
AITKEN, ROBERT, PRINTER, 15 

Prints first English Bible in America, 15 
Prints "Transactions of the American Philo- 
sophical Society," 15 
AITKEN, JANE, 15 

Prints Charles Thomson's translation of the 
Bible, 15 
AITKEN, DR. WILLIAM, 144 
ALLEN, WILLIAM, CHIEF JUSTICE, 9 
His famed coach and four, 10 
Assists in founding Academy and College of 

Philadelphia, 10 
Aids first Polar Expedition from America, 10 
Country Place at Mt. Airy, 10 
ALLEN'S LANE, 10 
ALMANACS, GERMAN, 29 
AMATEUR DRAWING ROOM, 185, 188 
AMBRUSTER, ANTHONY, 30, 49 
AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, 15, 

53, 78, 79, 177 
AMERICAN SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION, 108 
ANDREW STREET, 195 
ANDREWS, REV. JEDEDIAH, 34, 35 
ANTHONY, JOSEPH, 138 
AQUARIUM, CITY, FAIRMOUNT, 122, 177 
ARCH STREET, 3 

ARCHER, SAMUEL, MERCHANT, 37 
Business before War of 1812, 37 
Joins Robert Ralston in giving ground for 
Orphan Asylum, 37 
ARCHER, SAMUEL & CO., 37 
ARCHER & BISPHAM, 37 
ARMORY, CAVALRY SQUADRON, 198 
ARNOLD, MAJOR-GENERAL BENEDICT, 81, 

103, 104, 116 
ARSENAL, PENNSYLVANIA STATE, 166 
ARTISAN BUILDING, 90 
ARTISTS' SKETCH CLUB, 1830, 99 
ASSEMBLY BUILDINGS, 152 
ASSEMBLY OR STATE HOUSE provided at 
Broad and Marltet streets by original plan, 
1 



ASSOCIATION FOR EDUCATING NEGROES 
IN THE BRITISH PLANTATIONS, 151 
ASTOLFI, LAURENCE, 169 
ATHLETIC CLUB OP THE SCHUYLKILL 

NAVY, 187 
ATKINSON & ALEXANDER, PUBLISHERS 

OP SATURDAY EVENING POST, 12 
ATLANTIC CITY, 6 
AUBREY, WILLIAM, 8, 13, 18 
AUSTIN, ALEXANDER, 141 
AUTOBIOGRAPHIES : 

Riddle's, 112 

Carey's, 62, 63, 64 

Franklin's. 31, 62, 90, 91 

Pennypacker's, 62 



BACHE, DR. ALEXANDER DALLAS, 167 

BACHE, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 28, 32, 55, 
56 
Sees nothing good in Federal Party, 32 
Victim of Yellow Fever, 1798, 32 

BACHE, MRS. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 54 

BACHE, MARGARET, 56 

BACHE, RICHARD, 55 

Deputy Postmaster-General, 55 

BACHE, SARAH, 55 

BAILEY, FRANCIS, 58, 60 

BAILEY, FRANCIS AND ROBERT, 60 

BAILEY, LYDIA R., PRINTER, 61 

BAILEY, ROBERT, 60 

BAILLY, JOSEPH A., 154 

BAILY, JOSHUA L., 165 

BAIRD, ALEXANDER, 61 

BAKER, HILARY, MAYOR OF PHILADEL- 
PHIA, 33 

BALL, WILLIAM, 21 

BALLTOWN, 21 

BANCROFT, GEORGE, 115 

BANK OF KENTUCKY, 110 

BANK OF NORTH AMERICA, 142 

BANK OF PENNSYLVANIA, 142 

BANK OF THE UNITED STATES, 112, 142, 
154 

BANK, SCHUYLKILL, 110 

BANK STREET, 34, 35 

BARBADOES COMPANY'S STOREHOUSE, 34 

BARD, THE, OF TOWER HALL (Lewis Dela), 
92 

BARKER, ROBERT, 156 
Inventor of Panorama, 156 

BARKER, THOMAS ASTON, 156 

BARROWMEN FROM WALNUT STREET 
PRISON, 168 

BARTON, ANDREW, Nom de Plume of Col. 
Thomas Forrest, 49 



216 



216 



Index 



BARTRAM, ANN, 43 
BARTBAM, JOHN, 43 
BARTRAM, JOHN, JR., 43 
BASS, ROBERT, 36 
BATTLES : 

Gettysburg, 181 

Bunker Hill, 115, 116 

Brandywlne, 116 

GermantowD, 125 

Monmouth, 73, 116 

Trenton, 116 
BEADMEZ, 137 
BECK, PAUL, JR., 5, 6, 8 

Country house, 5 

Plan for Improvement of water front, 5, 6 
BECKER, HILARIUS, German Master of Union 

School, Germantown, 33 
BELL, ROBERT, PRINTER, 10, 11, 14, 39 

Opens auction house, 10 

His sign, Sugar Loaf, 10 

Publishes first American edition of Gold- 
smith's "Traveler," "Rasselas," and Lady 
Mary Montague's "Poetical Works," 10 

Publishes "Common Sense," 11 

"The Crisis," 11 

Book store next to St. Paul's, 11 

Dies In Richmond, Va., 11 

First literary character here, 11 
BELMONT, 46 

BENNETT, JAMES GORDON, SR., 79 
BENNETT, COL. JOSEPH M., 72, 92, 93, 94, 
111 

How he conducted his business, 92 

"Keeps a Poet," 92 

His career, 93 

Partner of James C. Umberger, 93 

Employs John Wanamaker, 93 

Makes clothing for Government, 93 

Invests in real estate, 93 

Sells business, 93 

Commissioned by Governor Porter, 93 

Buys the Savage Mansion, 94 

Buys Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, 94 

Owns Ocean House, Long Branch, 94 

Purchases Fox's Theatre, 94 

Bequeathes property to University of Penn- 
sylvania, 94 

Gives row of dwellings to University for 
Women's Dormitories, 94 

Cloudy titles to property perfected, 94 

Gives land to city, 94 

Gives Gentlemen's Driving Park to Methodist 
Homes, 94 

Death, 1899, 94 
BENEZET, ANTHONY, 32 
BEVERLY, N. J., 55 
BIBLE : 

Aitken's edition, 1782, 64 

Douay version, 1789, 63 

King James' version, 1802, 63 

First quartos In America, 63 

English Bible first published In America, 15 
BIDDLE'S ALLEY. 31 
BIDDLE, CHARLES, 112, 113 

Autobiography of, 112 

Career, 113 



BIDDLE, JUDGE JAMES, 150 

BIDDLE, JAMES, 113 

BIDDLE, M., 132 

BIDDLE, NICHOLAS, 112 

BIDDLE, WILLIAM, 42 

BILES, LEWIS, 201 

BINGHAM, JOHN, 155 

BINGHAM, WILLIAM, 155 

BINGHAM, WILLIAM, mansion of, 155 

BINGHAM & DOCK, 186 

BINNEY, HORACE, 66 

BINNS, JOHN, 58 

Description of the Franklin Printing Office, 
58 
BIRCH, WILLIAM RUSSELL, ARTIST, 7 

View by, of Market Street Ferries in 1830, 7 
BIRCH, WILLIAM 

VIEWS OP PHILADELPHIA: 

Cooke's Business Block, Third and Market 
Streets, 36, 44 

Mock Funeral of Washington, 67, 77 

High Street, East from Ninth, 137, 141 

Engine House at Centre Square, 177 

Old Court House, 22 

First Presbyterian Church, 35 
BISPHAM, JOSEPH, 21 
BISPHAM, SAMUEL, 21 
BLACK COCKADE, 142 
BLACK HORSE ALLEY, 14 
BLACK, WILLIAM, 180 
BLOCKLEY TOWNSHIP, 196 
BOARD OF HEALTH, 143 
BONAPARTE, JOSEPH, art from his Borden- 

town place, 131 
BONAPARTE, CHARLES LUCIEN, PRINCE, 

159 
BONAPARTE, JOSEPH, COUNT DE SURVIL- 

LIERS, 159 
BONAPARTE, LUCIEN, 159 
BONAPARTE, PRINCESS ZENAIDE, 159 
BOND, DR. PHINEAS, 90 

On first Medical Staff of Pennsylvania Hos- 
pital, 90 
BOND, DR. THOMAS, 90, 91, 92 

Founds Pennsylvania Hospital, 90 

Studies in Paris, 90 

Comes to Philadelphia, 90 

Fails in first attempt to found hospital, 91 

Obtains Franklin's assistance, 91 
BOOTH, JUNIUS, 151 

BOOTHEAN DRAMATIC ASSOCIATION, 151 
BOMBERGER. WILLIAM, 36 
BONSALL, JOHN, 38 
BOSSE. PETER, 141 
BOSTON LINE OF PACKETS, 7 
BOSTON MUSEUM, 156 
BOUDINOT, ELIAS, 116 
BOUDINOT MANSION, 124 
BOUQUET, COL. HENRY, 80 
BOURSE BUILDING, 72, 84 
BOUVIER, JUDGE JOHN, 74 
BOWERS, JAMES, 156 
BRADFORD. ANDREW. 13, 26, 51 

Publishes first newspaper in Pennsylvania. 
26 

Mercury, 26 



Index 



217 



BRADFORD, ANDREW: 

Returns to Philadelphia, 26 
Only printer in Province, 26 
Postmaster, 26 
BRADFORD, WILLIAM, FIRST PRINTER IN 
PENNSYLVANIA, 11 
Shop "near Philadelphia," 11 
Near Front and Marliet streets, 11 
Publishes a "seditious paper," 26 
Leaves Pennsylvania for New York, 26 
Succeeded by Reiner Jansen, 26 
BRADFORD, WILLIAM, GRANDSON OP 
FIRST PENNSYLVANIA PRINTER, 13, 
29, 140 
Printing office at the Sign of the Bible, 13 
Studies trade with Uncle Andrew, 13 
Publishes Pennsylvania Journal^ 13 
Opens London Coffee House, 13 
Engages in marine insurance, 13 
BRADFORD & INNSKEEP, 32 
BRAY, DOCTOR, 151 
BRAYFIELD, JOHN, 124 
BRECK, SAMUEL, JR., 136, 137, 138, 139 
"Recollections," 137 

Description of his Market street home, 137 
BRBCKBNRIDGE, HUGH H., 60 
Edits United Stales Magazine, 60 
Writes "Modern Chivalry," 60 
Justice of Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 60 
BRETON, WILLIAM L., 43 

Draws illustrations for Watson's "Annals," 
43 
BRICKS brought from Burlington, 17 

Philadelphia kilns, 18 
BRIDGES: 

Columbia, 45, 136 
Floating, 192 

Used during Revolution, 192 
Flood destroys, 193 
Permanent. 190, 191, 192, 193, 194 
Plans made but abandoned, 1786, 192 
Iron bridge planned by Thomas Paine, 192 
Model displayed in Franklin's house and 

in State House, 192 
Company Incorporated, 193 
Wooden structure planned by Thomas 

Palmer, 193 
Cornerstone laid, 193 
Difficulties in building, 193 
Completed, 1805, 193 
Roof built, 193 
City purchases, 193 
Freed of tolls, 193 
Widened by Philadelphia and Columbia 

Railroad, 194, 198 
Burned, 194, 198 
Replaced, 194, 198 
First railroad trains on, 198 
At Trenton, 150 
BRIDGEWATER STREET, 197 
BRILL, G. MARTIN, 187 
BRISSOT, DE WARVILLE, 54 
BROAD STREET, with High street, only thor- 
oughfares named on first plan of city, 1 
Originally the Twelfth street, 161 
The Fourteenth street, 162 



BROAD STREET: 

Tracks on, 181 

Paved with asphalt, 181 

Broad Street Station, 181, 182 
BROCKETT, ELIAS, 191 
BRODHEAD, DANIEL, 114 
BROWN, JOHN, 162, 163 
BROWN, NATHAN, 110 
BROWN, NATHANIEL, 81 
BRULEMAN, CAPTAIN, 180 
BRUSH ELECTRIC LIGHT CO., 188 
BRYAN, SAMUEL, 138 
BUCHANAN, PRESIDENT JAMES, 72 
BUDDEN, CAPTAIN RICHARD, 111 
BUDDEN, CAPTAIN JAMES, 111 
BURIAL GROUNDS: 

Friends, Fourth and Arch, 48 

Friends, West of Market Street Bridge, 197 

German Calvlnist, 67, 176 

Laurel Hill, 72, 90 

Potter's Field, 176 

Sparks, 84 

Upper, Germantown, 49 
BURK, ADDISON B., 134 
BURKE, JAMES, 172 
BURLINGTON, N. J., 4, 17 
BURR, AARON, 112 
BURR, JOSEPH, 7 
BUSTI, PAUL, 159, 200 

Sketch of, 200 
BUTCHERS, annoy Common Council, 22 

Shambles, 22 
BUTLER, MAJOR PIERCE, 138, 139 



CABLE CARS, FIRST RUN ON MARKET 

STREET, 187 
CADWALDER, DR. THOMAS. 180 
CADWALADER, GENERAL THOMAS, 124, 

125 
CALVERT, THOMAS, 38 
CAMAC, DR. WILLIAM, 188 
CAMERON, SENATOR SIMON, 135 
CAMERON, WILLIAM, 135 
CAMPBELL, JUDGE JAMES, 72 
CANAL, WEST SIDE OP MARKET STREET 

BRIDGE, 195 
CAPITAL, NATIONAL, REMOVED TO PHIL- 
ADELPHIA, 104 
CAPRON, MRS. H., "LADIES' ACADEMY," 54 
CAREY, MATHEW, 14, 20, 55, 58, 62, 63, 64, 
65, 67 
Fights duel with Colonel Oswald, 14 
Begins business, 14 
Assisted by Lafayette, 14 
Publishes The Pennsylvania Herald, 14 
Autobiography, 55, 62 

Associated with others in Columbian Maga- 
zine, 62 
Withdraws and publishes American Museum, 

62 
Carey, Stewart & Co., 63 
Dedicates volumes of Museum to distin- 
guished persons, 63 
Prints first American edition of Douay Bible, 
63 



218 



Index 



CAREY, MATHEW: 

Prints quarto King James' Bible, 63 

Keeps type for Bibles standing, 64 

Reprints "Waverioy Novels," 64 

Reprints "Rory O'More," 64 

Prospects when be married, 64 

Family, 65 

Writer on political economy, 65 

Retires from business, 65 

Death in 1839, 65 

Part taken by in yellow fever epidemic in 
1793, 65 

Publishes history of epidemic, 65 
CARPENTER, GEORGE W., 130, 131 
CARPENTER & CO.. GEORGE W., 130 
CARPENTER'S HALL, 66 
CARPENTER, SAMUEL, richest man in Phila- 
delphia, 1685, 3 

Erects first wharf, 3 

Offices held by, 3 
CARR, BENJAMIN, 66, 67 
CARRE, JOSEPH, 141 
CARSON, ANN, 197 
CARSON, CAPTAIN JOHN, 197 
CARTER, JACOB, 124 
CASKET, THE, 7 
CASSATT, A. J., 201 
CEDAR LANE, 196 
CENTRE SQUARE: 

Ten acres at Broad and Market streets orig- 
iginally designated, 1 

Horse racing at, 69. 179 

Originally planned at Twelfth street, 161 

Site of City Hall, 162 

During Revolution, 173 

Rochambeau's army encamped at, 173 

Divided into four squares, 174, 179 

First improvement of, 174 

Place of execution, 169 

Meeting House on, 171 

Commons, 171 

Demarkation of, 171 

On map of 1794, 171 

Engine house of Water Works on, 172, 176 

Laid out as park, 176 

First public fountain in, 177 

Remodeled, 177 

Engine house removed, 177 
CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL, 166, 167 

Opened, 167 

Removed, 167, 168 
CHADDS FORD TURNPIKE, 201 
CHAMBERS, BENJAMIN, 143, 191 
CHAUNCBY, AGNES, 139 
CHAUVEAU, A. J., 128 
CHESTER, 97 
CHEW, BENJAMIN, 125 
CHILDS, COL. CEPHAS G., 89, 114 
CHILDS, GEORGE W., 15 
CHRIST CHURCH, 8, 27, 29, 30, 113, 122 

Building designed by Dr. Kinnersley, 30 

Erected, 1727-1731, 30 

Altered by Thomas U. Walter, 30 

Steeple struck by lightning, 30 
CHRIST CHURCH CHIMES, 111 
CHRIST CHURCH HOSPITAL, 30, 201 



CHURCHES : 

Brickmakers' Methodist Protestant, 188 

Buttonwood (see First Presbyterian) 

Centre Square Meeting, 162 

Christ (see under that head) 

First Baptist, 34 

First Presbyterian, 34, 35 

Built on Market street, 1705, 34 
Described by Kalm, 34 
Rebuilt, 1704, 35 

Removed to Seventh street and South 
Washington Square, 35 

First Unitarian, 177 

Holy Trinity (Catholic), 9 

Independent Methodist, 185 

Mickve-Israel (Jewish), 76, 183 

St. Barnabas's Episcopal, 185 

St. Michael's (Lutheran), 83, 84 

Second Presbyterian, 35 

Tabernacle Baptist, 185 

Third Presbyterian, 35, 61 

Zion Lutheran, 67, 83 
CIRCUS : 

Rickett's, 159, 160 

Hughes', 160 
CITY, CONSOLIDATION OF, 1854, 46 
CITY GAS WORKS, 189, 190 
CITY HALL, 18, 154, 162, 174, 177, 178 

Early movements, 177 

To be built on either Penn Squares or Wash- 
ington Square, 178 

Building Commission, 178 

Injunction sought to prevent erection at 
Penn Squares, 178 

Ground broken, 178 

Cornerstone laid, 178 

Commission abolished, 178 

Cost of structure, 178 
CITY INSTITUTE, 200 

CITY TROOP, FIRST, OF CAVALRY, 43, 70, 
142, 146, 147, 158, 180, 188, 189, 199 

Origin, 147 

Bodyguard to Washington, 158 

Armories, 1S8, 189 
CITY TRUSTS, BOARD OF, 182 
CLARK, DR. JOHN Y., 159 
CLARKSON, MATTHEW, MAYOR, 65, 132, 

150 
CLAY, ALEXANDER, 81 
CLAY, J., 55 

CLAYPOOLE, DAVID C, 15 
CLEMENTS, AARON, 70 
CHIVEDEN, CHEW HOUSE, 125 
CLYMER'S ALLEY, 112 
CLYMER, BALTZER, 112 
CLYMER, DANIEL, 80 
CLYMER, GEORGE, 112 
CLYMER, MRS., 121 
COBB'S CREEK, 201 
COBBS CREEK PARK, 201 
COBBETT, WILLIAM, 27, 28, 29, 140 

Career, 27 

Arrives in Philadelphia, 27 

Strong feeling for Americans, 27 

Shop, "Opposite Christ Church," 27 

Teaches language, 28 



Index 



219 



COBBETT, WILLIAM: 

Pamphlet against Priestley, 28 

Letter to William Pitt, 28 

Own publisher, 28 

First pamphlet, 28 

Hounded by Bache, 28 

Encounter with Bache, 28 

Attacks enemies of Washington, 28 

Shop window decorations shock, 28 

Publisher Porcupine's Gazette, 28 

Attacks Dr. Rush tor his treatment of yellow 

fever patients, 29 
Publishes "Rushlight," 29 
Removes to New York, 29 
Returns to England, 29 
COFFEE HOUSES : 
London, 11 
Widow Roberta, 13 
COINAGE, FIRST U. S., 117 
COLE, WILLIAM, 173 

COLLEGE AND ACADEMY OF PHILADEL- 
PHIA, 35, 78 
COLUMBIA BRIDGE, 136 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, 119 
COMMERCE STREET, 96, 98, 99 
COMMONS, 146. 171, 172, 173 
Variously located, 171 
Never far from Market street, 171 
South of Centre Square, 171 
Fair held on, 171 
During Revolution, 171, 173 
Late eighteenth century, 172 
Ten acres set apart for at Broad and Market 
streets, 173 
'COMMON SENSE," H, 100 
COMMONWEALTH TITLE AND TRUST CO., 

159 
COMMISSIONERS' HALL, WEST PHILA., 199 
COMMITTEE OF SAFETY, CITIZENS, 1793, 

65 
COMMITTEE OF SAFETY, REVOLUTION- 
ARY, 49 
"CONCILIATORY PROPOSITION," LORD 

NORTH'S, 120 
CONESTOGA ROAD, 192 
CONGRESS, DEBATES, PRINTED BY DAVID 

C. CLAYPOOLE, 15 
CONGRESS HALL, 71, 127 
COOKE, GEORGE FREDERICK, 85 
COOKE, THOMAS, 36 

His business block. Third and Market streets, 
36 
COOPER, DANIEL, 3 

COOPER, PETER, ADMITTED FREEMEN OF 
CITY, 3 
A house painter, 4 
COOPER'S WILLIAM, N. J., 6 
COOPERS POINT, N. J., 6 
COPE (MARQUIS), BIDDLE, 74 
COPE, CALEB, 72, 86, 87 
COPE, CALEB & CO., 86 
COPE, ISRAEL, 86 
COPE, JASPER, 86 
CORMICK, JOHN, 38 
CORNWALLIS, SURRENDER OF, 115 
CORREA, ABBE, 79 



COUNCIL, COMMON, 5, 16, 22, 23, 40 

Leaves High street wharf to Masters and 
Redman, 5 

Meets in inn in, 1704, 22 

Reports old jail a nuisance, 22 

Annoyed by butchers, 22 

Order shop under Court House, 22 

Collects subscriptions for new market house, 
23 

Agrees to extend market from Third street 
to Fourth, 1773, 40 
COUNCIL, PROVINCIAL, 18 
COURT HOUSE : 

George I proclaime<l at, 23 

Early tenants, 23 

Painting of, 1829, 23 
COUSIN PONS, 152 
COX, JACOB, 123 
COXE, SALLY, 81 
COYLES, JAMES, 70 
CRAMOND STREET, 196 
CRAMP'S SHIPYARD, 21 
CRAMP, WILLIAM & SONS, 184 
"CRISIS," THE, 11 
CROFT, WILBUR & ALLEN, 163 
CROMWELL, OLIVER, 15 
CRUIKSHANK, JOSEPH, 32, 176 

Publishes books for Friends, 32 

Pamphlets for Anthony Benezet, 32 

Prints first American edition of "Imitation 
of Christ," 32 
CUTHBERT STREET, 96 
CUTHBERT, 201 
CY^CLORAMAS (see Panoramas) 



DAILEY, GIFFORD, 13 
DALLAS, ALEXANDER JAMES, 126, 141 
DALLAS, GEORGE M., U. S. MINISTER TO 
GREAT BRITAIN, 4 

Buys Cooper's "Prospective View," 4 
DANCING ASSEMBLY, 133 
DARBY ROAD, 199 
DARLEY, FELIX O. C, 99 
DASCH, PROPRIETOR OF WASHINGTON 

HOTEL, 135 
DAUCK'S FERRY, 55 
DAVIES, BENJAMIN, 36 
DAVIS, ALBERT N. (NEWSAM), 88 
DAVIS, NATHANIEL, 35 
DAVIS, WILLIAM P., 88 
DAWKINS, HENRY, 16, 22 
DAYMON, FRANCIS, 66 
DECATUR STREET, 112 

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 112, 
113, 118-122, 158 

Three of its ideas known in Cicero's time, 
119 
DEALY, DENIS F., 128 
DEANE, SILAS, 173 
DELA, LEWIS, 92 

"Bard of Tower Hall," 92 

His style of advertisement, 92 

"Law versus Saw," 93 
DELAWARE AND SCHUYLKILL NAVIGA- 
TION CO., 174, 175 



220 



Index 



DELLAP, SAMUEL, 77 
DESHLER, DAVID, 32, 33 
DESHLER & ROBERTS, 32 
DE WARVILLE, BRISSOT, 54 
DEWEES, B. F., 47 
DIARIES : 

Elizabeth Drinker's, 104 

Jacob Hiltzheimer's, 104 
DICKINSON, JOHN, 59, 63, 107, 109, 119, 120 
DIDOT, FIRMIN, 55 
DILWOETH, M., 1S8 
DIRECTORIES OF PHILADELPHIA: 

MacPherson's, 1785, 58, 69, 92, 107, 109, 113, 
124, 153 

White's, 1785, 69, 107, 109, 113 

Biddle's, 1791, 101 

Hogan's, 1795, 92 

Stafford's, 1801, 92 

Census, 1811, 60 
DIRECTORY FOR 1785, FIRST, 58 
"DISAPPOINTMENT, THE, OR THE FORCE 

OF CREDULITY," COMIC PLAY, 49 
"DISMES," 117 
DISPENSARY, PHILADELPHIA, 38 

Organized, 1786, 38 

First home in Strawbery street, 38 

Moved to Chestnut street, 1787, 39 

Now on Fifth street above Walnut, 38 
DOAN BOYS, 172 
DOAN, MOSES, 172 
DOAN, JOSEPH, 173 
DOAN, ABRAHAM, 173 
DOAN, LEVI, 173 
DOCK CREEK, 40 
DODSON, SARAH P. BALL, 21 
DODSON, R. BALL, 21 
DOLLAR, THE, 1804, 117 
DOUGLASS, JOSEPH, 38 
DOVE, DAVID JAMES, 22 

School of, 49 
DRINKER, ELIZABETH, 104 
DRUID HILL PARK, Baltimore, 94 
DUANE, COLONEL WILLIAM, 54, 55, 56, 57, 
58 

His career, 56, 57 

Writes pamphlet against Washington, 56 

Edits the Aurora, 56 

Forceful writer, 56 

Wants war with Great Britain, 56 

Repeats figures "6257" on paper daily, 56 

Adjutant-General of the Army for the East- 
ern District, 57 

Goes to South America, 57 

Appointed Protbonotary of the Supreme 
Court of Pennsylvania, 58 

His writings, 58 

Referred to by Binns, 58 

Sells the Aurora, 57 
DUANE, WILLIAM J., SUB-EDITOR OF 
AURORA, 54, 56, 57 

Marries daughter of Sarah Bache, 56 

Secretary of Treasury, 56 

Writes will of Stephen Girard, 56 
DUCKETT'S FARM, 197 

DUCK POND, FOURTH AND MARKET 
STREETS, 73 



DUKE, BERNARD, 70 

DUNLAP, DR. JAMES, 96 

DUNLAP, JOHN, 15, 111, 158, 159 
Sljeteh of, 158, 159 

House at Twelfth and Market Streets, 158 
Printer to Continental Congress, 158 
Prints the Declaration of Independence, 158 

DUNLAP & CLAYPOOLE, 15 
Print first daily newspaper, 15 

DUNLAP MANSION, 200 

DUNLAP, WILLIAM, 158 

DUMMIES ON MARKET STREET, 188 

DUNNING, PROFESSOR WILLIAM A., 119 

DUTCH EMBASSY, 125, 136 

DUNWOODY, JOHN, 127, 130 



ECKSTEIN, JOHN, 138 

ELBOW LANE, 31, 34, 35, 39 

ELECTRIC LIGHTING FIRST USED ON 

PHILADELPHIA STREET, 188 
ELLISON, JOHN B., 74 

ENKE'S COMET, RETURN DETECTED, 167 
ENGLAND, PHILIP, 191 
EPICUREANS, THE, 119 
EVANS, JOHN, 39 
EVANS, OLIVER, 142, 143, 144 

His career, 142, 143, 144 

His shops, 142 

"Oruketer Amphibolos" of, 142 

Runs by own power to Schuylkill, 142 

Endless chain conveyor invented by, 143 

His description of the first Journey of his 
horseless vehicle, 143 

His "Columbian" steam engine, 143 

Mars works of, 143 
EWER'S ALLEY, 18 
EWING, REV. DR. JOHN, 35 
EXCHANGE, MERCHANTS, DOCK AND 
WALNUT STREETS, 45 

Terminus of first passenger railroad, 45 
EXECUTIVE MANSION ON NINTH STREET, 
104, 148, 149, 150 

History of building, 148, 149, 150 

Never occupied by a President, 148 

"Federal House," 149 

Cornerstone laid, 149 

First opened, 149 

First used for meeting, 150 



FAIRS : 

Annual Spring and Autumn, 41 

In eighteenth century held near Market, 41 

Gabriel Thomas on, 41 

Abolished by Act of 1787, 41 
FAGAN, JOHN, 61 
FAIRMAN'S HOUSE, 18 
FAIRMOUNT PARK, 94 
FAIRMOUNT WATER WORKS, 122 
"FAREWELL ADDRESS," WASHINGTON'S, 

Original manuscript, 15 

First published, 15 
FARMER'S ALLEY, 116 
FARMER, RICHARD, 116 
FAUCHET, JOSEPH, 140 



Index 



221 



FEBIGER, CHRISTIAN, 115, 116 
FENNELL, JAMES, 169 
FENNO, JOHN, 31, 32 
FERRIES : 

Foot of Market street, 6 

Reeves's, 6, 7 

Plerson's, 6 

Seattergood's, 6 

Negus's, 6 

In 1830, 7 

One established in 1695 at Arch street, 3 

Cooper's, first, 3, 4 

High street, 5 

Corporation petitions Governor to obtain pos- 
session, 5 

Middle, at Market street, 191, 192 

"Old Ferry" granted Philip England, 191 
Kept by Benjamin Chambers, 191 
By Aquila Rose, 191 
Leased by James Coultas, 192 
Leased by Jonathan Humphries, 192 
Gives way to bridge of boats during Revo- 
tion, 192 

Upper, 6 
FERRYBOATS : 

Steam, 6, 7 

"Horseboats," 7 

"Teamboats," 7 

"Ridgway," 7 

"Washington," 7 

"Philadelphia," 7 

"Phoenix," 7 

"Constitution," 7 

"Moses Lancaster," 7 

"Independence," 7 

"William Wray," 7, 8 
FERRY HOUSE, 6 

FEVER, YELLOW (see Yellow Fever Epidemic) 
FIELD BROTHERS, 73 
FIELD, JOHN, 74 
FIELDING, ROBERT, 141 
FILBERT STREET, 116, 117, 179 
FIRES, 90, 95, 130, 163, 198 

Artisan Building, 1856, 90 

Great fire of 1856, 95 

New Olympic Theatre, 1874, 163 

Market Street Bridge, 1875, 198 

Pennsylvania Railroad Station, Thirty-second 
and Market streets, 1896, 198 

Partridge & Richardson, 1899, 130 

Hunt, Wilkinson & Co., 1901, 163 
FISHER, WILLIAM, MAYOR, 40 
FITCII, JOHN, 143 
FLAG, AMERICAN, POSSIBLE ORIGIN OF 

STRIPES IN, 147 
FORBES, GENERAL JOHN, 80 
FORREST, EDWIN, 169, 170 
FORREST, COLONEL THOMAS, 49, 66, 81 

Career, 49, 30 

Writes comic play, 49 
FORTY-FOURTH STREET, 200 
FOULKE, JOHN, DOCTOR OF PHYSIC, 31 
FOXCROFT, THOMAS, POSTMASTER, 59 
FOX HUNT, 199 

FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN, 4, 10, 28, 42, 53, 62, 
103, 104, 120. 125. 151 



FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN: 

"Autobiography," 4, 12, 31, 51 

Arrives at Market street wharf, 4 

Suggests Improved paving, 16 

Street cleaning project, 16 

Leaves Keimer, 12 

Joins Hugh Meredith in business, 12 

Finishes "Rise and Increase of Quakers," 12 

Probable location of his shop, 12 

Prints first American magazine, 12 

Succeeded by Hall & Sellers, 15 

Allows post riders to distribute Bradford's 

paper, 26 
Employed by Keimer, 26 
Succeeds Keimer, 27 
His shop, 27 

Has Henry Miller for apprentice, 29 
Falls asleep in Meeting House, 31 
Arrives at Market street wharf, 1723, 51 
Miss Reed watches him munch his rolls. 51 
Walks to Fourth street, 51 
Employed by Keimer, 51 
First printing office not located, 52 
Forms partnership with Meredith, 52 
First imprint, 1729, 52 
Publishes Watt's edition of "Psalms of 

David," 52 
Prints for Thomas Godfrey, 52 
Boards with Mrs. Godfrey, 52 
Marries Deborah Reed, 52 
Calls his shop "The New Printing Office," 52 
Appointed Agent for the Province, 53 
Builds house in Franklin's court, 53 
Sails for England, 53 
Furnishings of house, 53 
Death of wife, 53 
Closing years with family. 53 
Elected President of Pennsylvania, 53 
Enlarges house, 53 
Description of house, 53 
Entertains celebrities, 54 
Death in Franklin's court. 53 
Funeral, 53 
Part in foundation of Pennsylvania Hospital. 

90, 91 
Obtains appropriation from Province. 91 
Elected President of Pennsylvania, 107 
Kite experiment, 146, 171 
Publishes poems by Aquila Rose, 191 

FRANKLIN, DEBORAH, 53 

FRANKLIN'S COURT, 53, 55, 57, 58 

FRANKLIN HOSE COMPANY, 95 

FRANKLIN'S HOUSE, 192 

FRANKLIN INSTITUTE, 152, 164, 165, 189 
Fair, 1S74, 165 
Electrical Exposition, 1884, 198 

FRANKLIN MARKET COMPANY, 161 

FRANKLIN PLACE, 24 

FRANKLIN SQUARE, 67, 176 

FRANKLIN STATUE, 154 

FRANKS, POLLY, 81 

FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA, 200 

FREE SOCIETY OF TRADERS, 1 

FRANCIS, JOHN, 69, 70, 71, 106 

FRENEAU, PHILIP, 99, 100, 138 
Career, 100 



222 



Index 



FEENEAU, PHILIP: 

Publishes paper for JeCfersonian Republicans, 
100 

Bitter against Federalists, 100 

Clerk In State Department, 100 

Editor of National Gazette, 100 

Hia "Poems," 1809, 61, 100 
FRIENDS' ACADEMY, 126 
FRIENDS, SOCIETY OF, MEETING HOUSES : 

Second and Market streets, 30 

Fourth and Arch streets, 31 
FRIERE, LA CHEVA, PORTUGUESE AMBAS- 
SADOR, 54 
FRIES, JOHN, 44 
FRONT STREET, 1 

Hill from to river, 6 
FULLERTON, ALEXANDER, 20 
FULLERTON, JOHN, 20 
FURLBY, JOHN, 151 



GALLOWAY, JANE, 80 

GALLOWAY, JOSEPH, SPEAKER OF THE 
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY, 59, 60, 80, 106 
GALLATIN, ALBERT, 150 
GALLOWS GROUND, 169, 172 
GAMBER, 201 
GARDENS, GRAY'S, 46 
GARITEE, MASTEN AND ALLEN, 93 
GARRET, JEPFRY, 124 

GAS, INTRODUCTION OF IN PHILADEL- 
PHIA, 189, 190 
GENET, CITIZEN EDMUND CHARLES, 159 
GENTLEMEN'S DRIVING PARK, 94 
GERARD, CONRAD ALEXANDER, FRENCH 

AMBASSADOR, 104 
GERMAN ALMANACS, 29 
GERMAN SOCIETY, 148 
GIBSON, JOHN, 59 
GIDDINGS, JOSHUA R., 162 
GIFT, THE, 81 
GILLESPIE, ELIZABETH DUANE, 56 

"Book of Remembrance," 56 
GILLIAMS, JACOB, 23 
GIMBEL BROTHERS, 135, 142 
GIRARD, STEPHEN, MARINER, MERCHANT 
AND BANKER, 5, 6, 9, 25, 56, 65, 67, 85, 
86, 128, 133, 159, 167, 175 

Opposes Beck's plan for river front improve- 
ment, 5 

Leaves $500,000 to city for widening Dela- 
ware avenue, 5 

Accident to, 25 

Warehouse on Front street, 9 

Marries Mary Lum, 9 

Entertains French refugees, 9 

House removed for subway, 9 

Death and funeral of, 9 

Residence on Water street, 9 

Simpson's life of, 25 

Will of, 56 

Activity during yellow fever epidemic, 1793, 
65 
GIRARD COLLEGE, 30, 159, 167, 182 
GIRARD ESTATE, 182 
GIRARD NATIONAL BANK, 68 



GLOUCESTER COUNTY, N. J., GRAND JURY 
GRANTS PERMISSION TO ESTABLISH 
FERRY TO DANIEL COOPER, 3 

GODDARD, WILLIAM, 58, 59, 60 
Publishes Pennsylvania Chronicle, 59 
His career, 59 

GODFREY. THOMAS, INVENTOR OF QUAD- 
RANT, 29, 52 

GODFREY, THOMAS, THE YOUNGER, 29, 49 

GOLDSMITH, OLIVER, "THE TRAVELER," 
10 

GOOD INTENT MILLS, 201 

GOVERNOR'S WOODS, 132 

GRAFF, FREDERICK, 122 

GRAFF, J., JR., 120, 121, 124 

GRAHAM, HENRY HALE, 97 

GRAHAM, WILLIAM, 77 

GRAND DEPOT, WANAMAKER'S, 166 

GRATZ, BERNARD, 76, 77 

GRATZ BROTHERS, CAREER, 76, 77 

GRATZ, HYMAN, 122. 123 

GRATZ, MICHAEL, 76, 77 

GRATZ, REBECCA, 77 

Original of Rebecca in Scott's "Ivanhoe," 77 

GRATZ, SIMON, 77, 122, 123 

GRAYDON, ALEXANDER, MEMOIRS OF, 68, 
69 

GREAT CENTRAL FAIR, 188 

GREAT EGG HARBOR, 6 

GREW, MARY, 163 

GRIGG, JOHN, 74 
Career, 74, 75, 76 

GRIGG, JOHN WARNER, 76 

GRINDSTONE ALLEY, 31, 32 

GROUCHY, FIELD MARSHAL, COUNT, 9 

GRUBB & CO., J. C, 73 

GUEST, JOHN, 39 

GUILLOU, CONSTANT, 188 

GURNEY, COLONEL FRANCIS, 149 



HADLEY, J., ENGLISH MATHEMATICIAN, 

29, 52 
HAGA, GODFREY, 193 
"HAIL, COLUMBIA!" song, 66 
HALL, GUILD, MENTIONED BY GABRIEL 

THOMAS, 1698, 22 
HALL, WILLIAM, 12 
HALL, DAVID, 12, 15 

Prints New Testament, 15 
HALL & SELLERS, 12, 15, 52 
HALLAM, LEWIS, THEATRICAL COMPANY, 

49 
HASilLTON, ALEXANDER, "ATLAS," 100 
HAMILTON, ANDREW, 42, 196 
HAMILTON, WILLIAM. 136, 180, 196 
HAMILTON FAMILY, 195 
HAMILTONVILLE, 195, 196 
HANCOCK, JOHN, 158 
HARMONY FIRE COMPANY, 85 
HASKINS, THOMAS, 176 
HAZARD, WILLIS P., 39, 54 
HART, CHARLES HENRY, 52, 109 
HART, JOHN, 21 
HAY, JOHN, 113 
HAY, JOHN, Secretary of State, 113 



Index 



223 



HAY LANE, 201 

HAY, MICHAEL, 113 

HAY, PETER, 113 

HEADMAN, ANDREW, POTTERY OF, 127 

HEADMAN, WILLIAM, POTTERY OF, 127 

HEISKELL, THOMAS, 70 

HELM, PETER, 65 

HELMUTH, REV. HENRY, 83 

Description of yellow fever epidemic of 1793, 
83 
HENKELS, STANISLAUS V., 66 
HENRION, S., CONFECTIONERY OF, 128 
HENRY, ALEXANDER, 107, 108 
HENRY, ALEXANDER, MAYOR, 108 
HIGH STREET NAMED BY PENN, 1 

Origin of name, 1 

Name changed to Market street, 1 

One in nearly every English town, 2 

Provided by Penn, 2 

"Upper end" In 1723, 42 

Woods, above Eighth street, 42 

Ordered laid out by Common Council, 1723, 
192 
■HILLSPACH," SEAT OF RICHARD WIS- 

TAR, 44 
HILTZHEIMER, JACOB, 104, 122, 148, 149, 

150 
HILTZHEIMER, THOMAS, 122 
HINCKLE, JOHN, POTTERY OF, 127 
HISTORICAL SOCIETY OP PENNSYLVANIA, 

15, 10!', 126, 136, 153 
HIRT, TOBIAS, 83 
HOGAN, EDMUND, DIRECTORY FOR 1795, 

35 
HOLKER, SIEUR JOHN, 104 
HOLLAND COMPANY, 200 
HOLLINGSWORTH, LEVI, 176 
HOLME, THOMAS, SURVEYOR, 1 

Draws plan of city, 1 

Description of his plan, 1 
HOMER, MISS, 188 
HOPKINSON, FRANCIS, 151 
HORSE OF THE LEGION, 142 
HORSE RACING, 69 
HOTELS, INNS AND TAVERNS : 

Alleghany House, 135, 136 

Ball's Inn, 199 

Belgravia, 185 

Bingham House, 155, 186 

Blacli Bear, 81, 88 

Black Horse, 77 

Blockleyvllle Hotel, 201 

Blue Ball, 36, 113 

Boar's Head, 36 

Brig and Snow, 39 

Buck Tavern, 198 

Bull's Head, 39, 199 

Calvert's, Thomas, 38 

Centre House, 179, 180 

City Tavern, 120 

Clock, The, 100 

Conestoga Wagon, 69, 73, 80, 81 

Cormlck's, John, 38 

Cross Keys, 28, 39, 201 

Douglass's, Joseph, 38 

Eagle Hotel, 135 



HOTELS, INNS AND TAVERNS: 

Farmers' Hotel, 113 

Farmers' and Mechanics' Inn, 201 

Francis's Hotel, 69, 70, 71, 105, 106 

Francis's Union Hotel, 70, 106 

"Going to Law," 53 

Golden Horse, 167 

Golden Fish, 198 

Horse and Groom, 39 

Indian King, 31 

Indian Queen, 59, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 121 

Knight's Tavern, 18 

Leopard Tavern, 18 

Liberty Tavern, 199 

Mansion House, 155 

Mariners' Compass and Four Horse Shoes, 39 

Merchants' Hotel, 71, 72, 86 

New Bingham Hotel, 89, 155 

New Mansion House, 155 

Philadelphia House, 146 

Queen Charlotte, 38 

Red Lion. 113 

Royal Standard, 31, 92 

Ryan's John, 38 

Spread Eagle, 127, 130, 135, 146 

Steamboat, The, 100 

Thistle, 113 

Turks Head, Chester County, 173 

United States Hotel, 155 

Washington Hotel, 71, 72, 135, 155 

Western Exchange, 182 

Western Hotel, 135 

White Hall House, 130 

White Horse, 36, 39, 153 

White Swan, 135 

William Penn, 135 

William Penn Hotel, 199 

William Penn House, 199 

Woolpack Inn, 19 
HOUSE OF REFUGE, 108 
HOWE. GENERAL SIR WILLIAM, 103 
HOSPITALS : 

City, at Bush Hill, 65 

Pennsylvania (see Pennsylvania Hospital) 
HOFFMAN, 201 
HOFFMAN, MATILDA, 77 
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 163 
HUDSON'S ALLEY, 55 
HUDSON, SAMUEL, 96 
HUDSON'S SQUARE, 96 
HUDSON, WILLIAM, MAYOR, 96, 97 

His career, 96 
HUGHES, CHARLES, 160 

HUMBOLDT, FREDERICK, BARON VON, 79 
HUMPHREYS, JAMES, 58 
HUMPHRIES, JAMES, JR., 14 
HUNT. ISAAC. 10 
HT'NT, LEIGH, 10 
HUNT, URIAH, 74 
HUNTER, GEORGE, 138 
HUNTER, WILLIAM, 138 
HUNTER'S ROW, 137, 138 
HUTTON, JAMES, 21 
BUTTON, JOSEPH, 21 

HYDE, BUTLER TO WASHINGTON, 105 
"HYDRAULIEN," FIRE ENGINE, 98 



224 



Index 



ICK CREAM, 141 

"IMITATION OF CHRIST," FIRST AMERI- 
CAN EDITION, 32 

Sower's edition, 32 
INDEPENDENCE, CONGRESS VOTING, 109 
INDEPENDENCE, DECLARATION OF, 

First published in Towne's Evening Post, 15 
INDEPENDENCE HALL, 154 
INCLINED PLANE, 136 
INGERSOLL, CHARLES J., 66 
INGERSOLL, JARED, 66, 126, 175 
INGERSOLL, JOSEPH R., 136 
INNSKEEP, JOHN, 176 

"INSTRUCTIONS TO DELEGATES," OF VIR- 
GINIA, 118 
INSURANCE, MARINE, 13 
IRVINE, GENERAL, 149 
IRVING, WASHINGTON, 77 
"IVANHOE," 77 
JACOBY, LEONARD, 176 
JACOBY, S. F. & SON, 188 
JACOBY & PRINCE, 188 
JACKSON, PRESIDENT ANDREW, 71 
JAMES STREET, 196 
JANSEN, REINER, PRINTER, 26 

Succeeds Bradford, 26 
JAY'S TREATY, 139 

JEFFERSON, THOMAS, 27, 71, 100, 106, 118, 
122, 124 

Receives Cobbett, 27 

Resides In Francis's Hotel, 71 

Wrote Declaration of Independence at Sev- 
enth and Market streets, 118 

Composes State papers in Virginia, 118 

"Instructions to Delegates," 118 

Widely read, 118 

Sent as Delegate from Virginia, 119 

Arrives in Philadelphia, 119 

Lodges with Benjamin Randolph, 119 

Sits in Congress, 119 

Placed on committee to draft declaration of 
causes for taking arms, 119 

Too radical for Dickinson, 120 

Author of "Resolutions" of June 7, 1776, 120 

Appointed on committee to draft Declaration, 
120 

Takes Lodgings at Graaf's, Seventh and Mar- 
ket streets, 120 

Dines at City Tavern, 120 

Own description of house In which Declara- 
tion was written, 121 
JESSUP & MOORE, 95 
JOCKEY CLUB, 179 
JOHNSON, BENJAMIN, 74 
JOHNSON, JACOB & CO., 74 
JOHNSON, DR. SAMUEL, "RASSELAS," 10 
JONES, ISRAEL, 96 
JONES, WILLIAM, 176 
JORDAN BROTHERS, 123 
JULIUSTOWN, N. J., 93 
JUNIPER STREET, 171, 179 
JUNTO, THE, 29 

KALM, PETER, 34 

KANTZOW, BARON DE, SWEDISH MIN- 
ISTER, 159 



KEEN HALL, 199 

KEITH, GEORGE, HERESIES SCANDALIZE 
FRIENDS, 34 

KELLIE, THE EARL OF, 21 

KENDALL, PROF. E. OTIS, 167 

KID, ROBERT, 110 

KING (WATER) STREET, 4 
Laid out, 4 

KING, ROBERT P., 61 

KINNERSLEY, DR. JOHN, 30 

KINSEY, ABEL, 92 

KINSEY, JOHN, CHIEF JUSTICE OF PRO- 
VINCIAL SUPREME COURT, 90, 92, 102 

KINTZING, ABRAHAM, 92 
•KIRKBRIDE'S," 200 

KIRKBRIDE, DR. THOMAS S., 200 

KEELY, JOHN, 134, 135 
His motor, 134 
His career, 134, 133 
His "new force," 135 

KEELY MOTOR COMPANY, 134 

KEIMER, SAMUEL, 12, 51, 52 

KELLER, REV. J., 185 

KEMPE, ATTORNEY-GENERAL, NEW YORK, 
126 

KENDRICK, GEORGE W.. 153 

KENNEDY, DAVID, 112, 114, 138 

KENNEDY & LUCAS, first lithographic estab- 
lishment, 114 

KER, JAMES, 129 

KNIGHT, TAVERN KEEPER, 18 

KNORR, JOHN, 78 

KOECKER, DR. L. O., 188 

KONKLE, BURTON A., 153 

KREMER, HENRY, 136 

KUDDER, JAMES, 156 

KUHN, HARTMAN, 201 



"LADIES BATTLE, THE," 188 

LAFAYETTE, MARQUIS De, 14 

LALLEMAND, BARONESS, 159 

LALLEMAND, GENERAL, 9 

LAMBDIN, JAMES R., 89 

LANCASTER ROAD, 199 

LANCASTER TURNPIKE, 199 

LAND OFFICE, 124 

LANDRETH, DAVID, 103 

LANSDOWNE, 17 

LATROBE, BENJAMIN H., 175, 176 

LAUCH, JOHN, 35 

LAURENT BROTHERS, 93 

LAW ACADEMY, 126 

LAWRENCE, JOHN, MAYOR, 102, 103 

LAWRENCE, THOMAS, MAYOR, 23 

LEAR, TOBIAS. 105 

LEARY. STUART & CO., 144 

LEARY, W. A., 144 

"LEAHY'S," 144, 145 

LEE, ARTHUR, 103 

LEE, MAJOR-GENERAL CHARLES, 73 

LEE, FRANCIS, 69 

LEE, GENERAL RICHARD HENRY, 67, 120 

LEIB, DR. MICHAEL, POSTMASTER, 44 

l.EIPER, GEORGE GRAY, 142 



Index 



225 



LEIPER, THOMAS, 141, 142, 154 

His career, 141, 142 
LEITHGOW STREET, 78 
LENAPE CHIEFTAINS, 185 
LESLIE, ROBERT, 32, 81 
LESLIE, CHARLES ROBERT, 32, 81 
LESLIE, ELIZA, 81, 82 
LESLIE & PRICE, 32 
LETITIA COURT, 18, 19 

"LETTER FROM WILLIAM PENN TO THE 
COMMITTEE OF THE FREE SOCIETY 
OF TRADERS," 1 
"LETTERS FROM A FARMER IN PENNSYL- 
VANIA." 60, 107 
LEVIS, HOSEA J., 110 
LEVI, LOUIS E., 128 
LIANCODRT, DUKE OF, 137 
LIBERTY BELL, 111 
LIBRARIES : 

Lenox, New York, 15 

Mercantile, 154, 161 

Philadelphia, 3, 4, 66 
"LINES WRITTEN IN AN ASSEMBLY 

ROOM," 81 
LINDSAY, ROBERT A., 85 
LIPPINCOTT, BARCLAY, 72 
LIPPINCOTT CO., THE J. B., 76 
LIPPINCOTT, TAYLOR & CO., 72 
LIT BROTHERS, 124, 127, 131 
LITHOGRAPHY, 82, 89, 90, 114 
LITHOTINT. FIRST USED IN MISS LES- 
LIE'S MAOAZIXB, 82 
LITTLETON, LORD, 103 

LITURGY OF ESTABLISHED CHURCH, 113 
LIVING HOME, WILMINGTON, DEL., 90 
LIVINGSTON, R., 120 
LONDON COFFEE HOUSE, 11, 13, 14, 15 

Land Patented to Letitia Penn, 13 

Building erected by Charles Reed, 13 

Conveyed to Israel Pemberton, 13 

Under Bradford's management, 13 

Used as a dwelling by James Stokes, 13 

Tenanted by Gi£ford Dailey, 13 

Passes to Pleasant family, 13 

Bought by Stokes, 14 

Conducted by Colonel Oswald, 14 
LOGAN, JAMES, DEPUTY GOVERNOR, 80 
LOGAN SQUARE, 176, 188 
LOUIS PHILIPPE, KING OF FRANCE, 9, 137 
LOYALISTS, SOUTHERN, CONVENTION OF, 

162 
LUDWICK, CHRISTOPHER, 18 
LUDLOW STREET, 196 

McCONNELL, MATTHEW, 193 
McCULLOUGH, JOHN, 152 
McCULLOCH, RACHAEL, 124 
McKEAN, GOVERNOR THOMAS, 29, 106 
McNEILLE, P. R. & CO., 110 
"McNEILLE'S FOLLY," 110 
MacPHERSON, CAPTAIN JOHN, 104 
MacPHERSON BLUES, 67 
McVEAGH. WAYNE, 201 
MAGAZINES: 

American Museum, 62, 63 

Arthur's Ladles' Magazine, 82 



MAGAZINES : 

Bradford's, 13 

Casket, 7 

Columbian, 62 

General Magazine (Franklin's), 12 

Oentleman's, 4, 62 

Godey's Ladies' Book, 81 

Mirror of Taste, 86 

Miss Leslie's, 82 

Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biog- 
raphy, S3 

Port Folio, 177 

United States, 60 
MAILS, METHOD OF CARRYING IN 1838, 

135, 136 
MAKENRIE, REV. FRANCIS, 34 
MANFREDI COMPANY OP PANTOMIMISTS, 

169 
MANN, DR. CAMILLUS MacMAHON, 23 
MANTUAVILLE, 197 
MASONIC HALL, FIRST IN CHESTNUT 

STREET, 189 
MASONIC HALL, WEST PHILA., 199 
MASONS, GRAND LODGE OF PENNSYL- 
VANIA, 21, 31 
MASON, JOHN, 188 
MASON, LYDIA, 188 
MAPS OF PHILADELPHIA: 

Clarkson & Riddle's, 1762, 47, 68, 77, 132, 
133 

Varle's, 1794, 47, 171 

Paxton's, 1810, 47, 54 

Ellet's, 1839, 198 
MARBLE ALLEY, 154 
MARGARET STREET, 196 
MARKETS ; 

Provided at Broad and Market streets by 
original plan, 1 

Fish, in middle of Market street, 6, 7, 11 

Jersey, 7, 16, 40 

Bell rung when produce boats arrive, 16 

Stalls, 16 

Stalls replaced by shed, 16 

Common Council collects subscriptions for, 
23 

Terminal at Front and Market streets, 16 

Broad street, 179 

New Western, 182, 187 

New, Second and Pine streets, 40 

Franklin, Tenth street, 154 

Franklin, Twelfth street, 160 

Farmers'. 160 

Farmers' Western, 187 

Southwestern, 187 
MARKET SHEDS: 

Assembly petitioned to extend west of Third 
street, 1773, 40 

Residents prevent erection of, 40 

Councils conclude they must be removed, 44 

Extended to Third street, 39 

Extended from Third street to Fourth, 1786, 

41, 68 

Extended from Fourth street to Sixth, 1810, 

42, 68 

Extended from Sixth street, to Eighth, 1816, 
132 



226 



Index 



MARKET SHEDS: 

From Fifteenth street to Sixteenth, 182 

Removed, 1859-1860, 16, 160 
MARKET STREET: 

OrigiDally named High, 1 

Streets In America so named indebted to 
Philadelphia, 2 

Name changed from High, 3 

In the eighteenth century, 136 
MARKET STREET ELEVATED AND SUB- 
WAY RAILWAY, 201 
MARKHAM, WILLIAM, LIEUTENANT-GOV- 
ERNOR, 17, 30 
MARKOE, CAPTAIN ABRAHAM, 147, 151 

Owned square from Ninth street to Tenth, 
147 

A founder of the First City Troop, 147 

May have designed flag, 147 

At the Battle of Brandywine, 147 
MARKOE, MARGARET HARTMAN, (MRS. 
BACHE), (MRS. DUANE), 56 

Carries on Aurora, 56 

Marries William Duane, 56 
MARKOE STREET, 200 
MARQUIS, PANORAMA BY, 156 
MARS IRON WORKS, 143 
MARTINDALE, THOMAS, 151 
MARTINEAU, HARRIET, 
MARY STREET, 196 
MARSHALL, CHRISTOPHER, DIARIST, 38 

His account of reading of the Declaration, 
38 
MARSHALL, CHRISTOPHER, JR., 38 

Leases house to Philadelphia Dispensary, 38 
MARSHALL STREET, 112 
"MASKS AND FACES," 188 
MASTERS, THOMAS, ALDERMAN, 5, 8 

One of the lessees of High street wharf, 5 
MASTERS, MARY, 102, 103 
MASTERS, WILLIAM, 8, 18, 102 
MAY DAY, 11 
MAY POLE, 11 
MAYS LANDING, 6 
MAXWELL, J. C, 70 
MEADOWBROOK CLUB, 190 
MEASE, JAMES, 103 
MEASE, DR. JAMES, 121 

MEDICO-CHIRURGICAL COLLEGE, 37, 182 
MEMORIAL HALL, FAIRMOUNT PARK, 181 
MENDENHALL, ANN, 43 
MERCER (MERCIER), CHARLES, 24 
MERCHANTS' EXCHANGE, 130, 136 
MEREDITH, HUGH, PARTNER OF FRANK- 
LIN, 12, 52 
MERRICK, SAMUEL VAUGHN, 181, 189, 

190 
MERRICK STREET, 181 

METHODIST EPISCOPAL ORPHANAGE, 94 
METHODIST EPISCOPAL HOME FOR THE 

AGED, 94 
MICKLEY, JOSEPH J., 152 

Sltetch of, 152, 153 
MIFFLIN, GOVERNOR THOMAS, 63, 113, 124, 

12.-, 149 
MILL CREEK, 198, 201 
MILLER, DAVID, 70 



MILLER, HENRY, PRINTER, 29 

Prints German almanacs, 29 

Prints German newspaper, 29 
MILLER, JOHN, 151 
MILLER, JOSEPH, 83 

MINT, UNITED STATES, FIRST, 116, 117 
MINUIT, PETER, 153 

■MISS LESLIE'S COOKERY BOOK," 81 
MITCHELL, DR. S. WEIR, 139 
MODEL COFFEE HOUSE, 181 
"MODERN CHIVALRY," 60 
MONTAGUE, LADY MARY, "POETICAL 

WORKS," 10 
MOODY, JOHN, HANGED AS SPY, 172 
MOODY & SANKEY, 165, 166 
MOORE, CLARA JESSUP BLOOMFIELD, 134 
MOORE, SARAH, 98 
MOORE, DR. THOMAS, 98 

MOORE, WILLIAM, PRESIDENT OF PENN- 
SYLVANIA, 107 
MOORE STREET, 196 
MOORFIELDS, LONDON, 1 
MORRIS, ANTHONY, 141 
MORRIS, CASPAR, 141 
MORRIS, ELIZABETH MARSHALL, 129 
MORRIS, ISAAC P., 184 
MORRIS, ISRAEL, 184 
MORRIS, HENRY, 184 
MORRIS, MAKY, 81 
MORRIS & JONES & CO., 184 
MORRIS, TASKER & CO., 184 
MORRIS, ROBERT, 109, 110, 159, 160 

Leases Holker Mansion, 104 

Rebuilds ruins, 104 

Purchases property, 104 

His country house in 1791, 104 

Offers mansion to Washington, 105 

Washington to pay $3000 a year rental, 105 

Sells mansion, 106 

Removes to corner of Sixth street, 106 

His various residences, 106 

In Debtor's Prison, 106 

Death, 1806, 106 

Portrait of, by Pine, 109 

Assists Pine, 109 

Erects a building for Pine, 109 

Unfinished mansion of, 148 

Quarries of, 149 
MORRIS, SARAH, 43 
MORRIS, CAPTAIN SAMUEL, 43 
MORRIS, WHEELER & CO., 184 
MORRIS HOUSE, GERMANTOWN, 32 

Built by David Deshler, 32 

Occupied by Washington, 33 
MOTT, JAMES, 163 
MOTT, LUCRETIA, 163 
MT. AIRY, 10 
MOUNT PLEASANT, 104 
MT. VERNON, VIRGINIA, 102 

Washington vault at, 154 
MOYAMENSING HOSE COMPANY, 95 
"MRS. WASHINGTON POTTS," 81 
MULBERRY COURT, 98 
MULBERRY (ARCH) STREET, 3 
MULLEN, BERNARD, 146 
MULLOWNEY, CAPTAIN JOHN, 18, 184 



Index 



227 



MURDERS : 

Joseph Rink, 168 

Mrs. Ella Lynch and Mrs. Honora Shaw, 168 

"Barrowmen," 168, 172 

John McFarland, 169, 172 

Captain Scull, 180 

Timothy McAuliffe, 172 
MDRGATROTD, THOMAS, 124 
MURPHY & ALLISON, 187 
MUSICAL REPOSITORY, 66 



NATIONAL HALL, 162, 163 

NAVAL ASYLUM, 138 

NAVAL OBSERVATORY, WASHINGTON, 167 

NEFF, JOHN, 181 

NEGUS, JOHN, 6 

NEWMAN, H., 11, 135 

NEWKIRK, MATTHEW, 136, 155 

NEWSAM, ALBERT, 88 

His career, 88, 89, 90 
NEWSPAPERS : 

American Sentinel^ 113 

Aurora and General Advertiser, 28, 32, 54, 
55, 56, 57, 58 

Chronicle-Herald, 128 

Chronicle of Freedom, 14 

Daily Advertiser, 159 

Democratic Press, 58 

Der Wochentliche Philadelphia Btaatshote, 29 

Evening Bulletin, 113 

Evening Chronicle, 128 

Evening Herald, 128 

Franklin Oa^ette, 57 

Freeman's Journal, 60 

Gazette of the United States, 31 

Oleason's Pictorial, 86 

Independent Oazeteer, 14 

Mercury, 26, 51 

national Gazette, 100 

Xew York Herald, 79 

Xew York Journal, 14 

Pennsylvanian, The, 79 

Pennsylvania Chronicle, 10, 58, 59, 60, 107 

Pennsylvania Evening Post, 14, 15, 66 

Pennsylvania Gazette, 52, 66, 91 

Pennsylvania Herald, 14 

Pennsylvania Journal, 13 

Pennsylvania Ledger, 14 

Pennsylvania Packet, 66, 104, 109, 158 

Porcupine's Gazette, 28 

Public Ledger, 92, 95 

Saturday Evening Post, 12 

Sunday Mirror, 128 
NICHOLS, WIDOW, 69 
NICHOLLS, MARY. 81 
NICHOLLS, SAMUEL, 80 
NICHOLSON, JOHN, 59 
NORTH ALLEY, 96 
NORTH, RICHARD, 127 
NORTH STREET, 95 



OAK STREET, 179, 181 
West Philadelphia, 196 
OBELISK, AT TWENTY-THIRD STREET, 190 



OCEAN HOUSE, LONG BRANCH, 94 
OLD COURT HOUSE, 21, 22 

In existence in 1709, 22 

Mentioned by Gabriel Thomas, 22 

Dawkins' view of, 22 

Outer stairways removed, 22 

Birch's view of, 22 
OGDEN, JOSEPH, 136, 141 
OGDEN, THOMAS, 129 
ORLEANS, DUKE OF, 9 
ORLEANS, PRINCES OF, 137 
OLIVE STREET, 179 
OMNIBUS LINES, 182 

ORPHAN ASYLUM, PHILADELPHIA, 37 
OSWALD, COLONEL ELEAZEK, 14 

Artillery officer in Revolution, 14 

Journalist, 14 

Comes to Philadelphia, 14 

Publishes Independent Gazeteer and the 
Chronicle of Freedom, 14 

Partner of William Goddard, 14 

Revives Keu) York Journal, 14 

Fights duel with Mathew Carey, 14 

Imprisoned, 14 

Officer in French Revolution, 14 

Returns and dies in New York, 14 

Attends General Charles Lee in his last ill- 
ness, 73 
OTTIS, SAMUEL A., 114 



PAINE, THOMAS, 11, 99, 102 
PAGE, COLONEL JAMES, 185 
PANORAMAS : 

City of London, 153 

New Haven, 156 

Battle of Paris, 156 

Philadelphia, 156 

Paris, 156 

Battle of Waterloo, 156 

Palace and Garden of Versailles, 156 

Battle of Lodi, 158 

Battle of Alexandria, 156 

Baltimore, 157 
PARADISE ALLEY, 77 
PARK COMISSION, 17 
PARKWAY, 37 

PARMENTIER, NICHOLAS S., 24 
PARTRIDGE & RICHARDSON, 130 
PASCAL IRON WORKS, 184 
PASCHAL'S BATTALION, 97 
PASTORIUS, FRANCIS DANIEL, 96 
PATTON, THOMAS, 36 
PAXTON "BOYS," 30 

PAYNE, JOHN, TRANSLATION OF "IMITA- 
TION OF CHRIST," 32 
PEALE, SOPHONISBA, 98 
PEALE, CHARLES WILSON, 98 
PEMBERTON, ISRAEL, 13, 68, 96, 140 
PEMBERTON, JAMES, 138, 139, 140, 141 
PEMBERTON, JOHN, 13. 96, 97 
PENITENTIARY, EASTERN, 98 
PENN'S COTTAGE. LETITIA COURT, 17, 19 

Removed to Fairmount Park, 17 

Bricks not brought from England, 17 



228 



Index 



PENN, LETITIA, 8, 13, 17, 18, 31, 102 

Marries William Aubrey, 8, 13 
PENN, MARY MASTERS, 103 
PENN, RICHARD, GOVERNOR, 103 
PENN HALL, 19 
PENN SOCIETY, 19 
PENN, WILLIAM, 117, 151, 161 

Named Market street High, 1 

"Letter from to Committee of the Free So- 
ciety of Traders," 1683, 1 

Arrival, 3 

Cottage, 17 

Resides in Slate Roof House, 18 

Resides in Fairman's house, 18 

Sets apart ten acres for Commons, 173 
PENN NATIONAL BANK, 122 
PENN SQUARES, 174, 178 

Fenced in, 179 

Iron railings erected, 179 
PENNSYLVANIA HOSPITAL, 44, 90, 132, 
141 

First location, 90 

An experiment, 90 

Occupies former home of Chief Justice 
Kinsey, 90 

Dr. Thomas Bond's experience in starting 
enterprise, 91 

Fails at first, 91 

Obtains Franklin's co-operation, 91 

Also Franklin's subscription, 91 

Province promises £2000, 92 

Contributors meet at Royal Standard Tavern, 
92 

House of Justice Kinsey rented, 92 

Temporary building opened, 92 

Purchases Busti farm, 200 

Department for insane, 200 
PENNSYLVANIA HOSPITAL FOR THE IN- 
SANE, 200 
PENNSYLVANIA INSTITUTION FOR THE 

DEAF AND DUMB, 89, 155, 183 
PENNSYLVANIA LAND OFFICE, 124 
PENNSYLVANIA PACKET, 15, 66, 104, 109, 
158 

Prints Washington's Farewell Address, 15 
PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD, 197 
FENNEL, 201 

PENNINGTON, J. W., 100, 101 
PENNINGTON, MARTHA, 100 
PENNYPACKER, SAMUEL W., GOVERNOR 
OF PENNSYLVANIA, 3, 62, 101 

Sale, 15 
PERKINS & SELLERS, 98 
PERKINS, T. J. & CO., 144 
PERKINS, T. R. AND A. R., 144 
PEROT, ELLISTON, 128, 129 

Career, 128, 129 
PEROT, JOHN, 128, 129, 193 

Career, 128, 129 

His house, 130 
PEROT, FRANCIS, 129 
PEROT, T. MORRIS, 129 
PEROT'S SONS, FRANCIS, 129 
PETERS, JACOB, 135 
PETERS, REV. RICHARD, 80 
PETERS, JUDGE RICHARD, 193 



PHILADELPHIA, PLAN OF, 161, 162 
VIEWS OF : 

Peter Cooper's "Prospective," 1720, 3 
Gentleman's Magazine, 1761, 4 
On Scull & Heap's map, 1750, 4 

PHILADELPHIA LIBRARY COMPANY, 3, 4 

PHILADELPHIA OBSERVATORY, 167 

PHILELLENA, MT. AIRY, GEO. W. CARPEN- 
TER'S ESTATE, 130, 131 

PICKERING, TIMOTHY, 71, 99, 140 

"PICTURE OF PHILADELPHIA," 1831, 36 

PIERCE, PRESIDENT FRANKLIN, 71 

PIERSON, OWNER OF UPPER FERRY, 6 

PINE, MARY, 109 

PINE, ROBERT EDGE, 109, 110 

PILGRIM, JAMES, 163 

PILLORY, 16 

PITT, WILLIAM, 28 

POE, EDGAR ALLAN, 81 

POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE OF PENNSYL- 
VANIA, 182 

"POMONA GROVE," COL. FORREST'S PROP- 
ERTY IN GERMANTOWN, 49 

POPE BONIFACE VIII, 119 

"PORCUPINE, PETER," PEN NAME OF 
WILLIAM COBBETT, 27 

PORTER, DAVID R., GOVERNOR OF PENN- 
SYLVANIA, 93 

PORTER, ROBERT KER, 156 

PORTER, THOMAS, "PICTURE OF PHILA- 
DELPHIA" IN 1831, 36, 37 

POST OFFICE: 

In 1767, Market street between Third and 

Fourth, 59 
In 1797, Twelfth street. South of Market, 

159 
In 1798, Market street between Eleventh and 

Twelfth, 159 
In 1814, northwest comer of Third and 

Market streets, 44 
Ninth and Market streets, 144, 150, 151 
Opened, 1884, 151 
Middle City, 185 

POTTERIES, 127, 183, 184 

POULSON, CHARLES A., PICTURE OF MOR- 
RIS HOUSE, 102, 103, 106 

POWEL, JOHN HARE, 193 

POWELTON, 193, 196 

POWER HOUSE OF CABLE SYSTEM, 187 

PHARES, WILLIAM, 8 

PHILIP THE FAIR, 119 

PHILE, JOHN, 66, 67 

PHILB, PHILIP, 66, 67 

PHILADELPHIA AND READING RAILWAY, 
161 

PHILADELPHIA SAVINGS FUND SOCIETY, 
87 

PHYSIC, DR. E., 121 

PHYSIC, DR. PHILIP SYNG, 25 

PLANKLEY, 201 

PLEASANTS, SAMUEL, 138 

PLEASANTS FAMILY, 13 

"PLUMLEY," COL. SHIPPEN'S SEAT, 81 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF EDUCATION, 
108 

PRETENDER, CHARLES EDWARD, THE, 104 



Index 



229 



PRIESTLEY, DR. JOSEPH, 28. 99, 114, 115 

Visit to in 1796 described by Twining, 114 

His career, 114 
"PRESIDENT'S HOUSE," MARKET STREET, 

70 
"PRESIDENT'S MARCH," 66 
"PRINCE OF PARTHIA," PLAY BY GOD- 
FREY, 29 

First American tragedy produced, 49 
PRINTING HOUSE SQUARE, 12 
PRISON, 12 

Removed in 1723, 22 

Third and Marliet streets, 22 

Stone, erected at Third and Marliet streets, 
1722, 42 

Debtor's, 42 

Described by Watson, 43 

Removed, 1784, 43 

Walnut street, 172 
PROCTER'S ARTILLERY, 49 
PROTAGORAS, 119 
"PROA'ERBS OF SOLOMON AND ECCLES- 

lASTES," 30 
"PROSPECTIVE VIEW OF PHILADELPHIA 
PROM THE SOUTHWEST," PAINTED 
BY PETER COOPER, 32 
PUBLIC LEDGER BUILDING, 154, 160 
PURVIS, ROBERT, 163 

Deifies John Brown, 163 
PUTNAM, GENERAL ISRAEL, 192 



RABBIT CLUB, 201 
RABBIT LANE, 201 
RAILROADS : 

First on Market street, 44 

West Philadelphia Passenger, 44 

Eastern Terminus at Third and Market 
streets, 44 

Tracks laid, 44 

Causes removal of market sheds, 44 

Philadelphia and Columbia incorporated, 45 

Route in Philadelphia, 43 

Broad street branch completed, 1833, 45 

On High street, 1838, 45 

Cars drawn by "animal power," 43 

Cars numbered, 45 

Carry passengers, 45 

Philadelphia and Delaware River, 46 

Proposed Elevated, 46 

Fifth and Sixth streets line begins opera- 
tion, 1858, 46 

West Philadelphia Passenger runs cars di- 
rect to Third street on Market, 1858, 46 

West Philadelphia Passenger double-tracked 
east of Eighth street, 1860, 46 

City, 45, 46, 132, 181 

Freight tracks removed from Market street 
east of Broad, 47 

Panama, 99 

Pennsylvania Railroad : 

First station, 812 Market street, 135, 136 

Philadelphia and Columbia, 99, 135, 136, 
185, 198 
First station, 812 Market street, 135, 136 



RAILROADS : 
Route, 136 

Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore, 136, 
155 
RAILROAD DEPOTS OR STATIONS; 

P. W. and B., Broad and Prime streets, 155 

P. W. and B., Eleventh and Market streets, 
155 

P. R. R., Eleventh and Market streets, 155 

P. R. R., Fifteenth and Market streets, 155 

Reading Terminal, 161 

Broad Street Station, 181, 182, 198 

Philadelphia and Columbia, Eighteenth and 
Market streets, 185 

Penna., Thirtieth and Market streets, 198 

Penna., Thirty-second and Market streets, 
198 

Pennsylvania Railroad Freight Station, Thir- 
teenth and Market streets, 165, 168 
RAILWAY, INCLINED, 46 
RAILWAYS: 

Leipcr's tramcars on Crown creek, 142 

First attempted elevated, 20 

Northeast elevated, 20 

Metropolitan, 20 

Street, mergers, 73 
RAKESTRAW, JOSEPH, 149 
RALSTON & HOLMES, 8 
RALSTON, ROBERT, 8, 37 

Joins Samuel Archer in giving ground for 
Orphan Asylum, 37 
RALSTON, WILLIASL 8 
RAMSEY & CO., S. M., 114 
RANDALL, SAMUEL J., CONGRESSMAN, 72 
RANDOLPH, BENJAMIN, 119, 120, 121, 138, 
140, 158 

Makes desk on which Declaration was writ- 
ten, 119 

Rents room to Jefferson, 119, 120 

Member of City Troop, 119 
RANDOLPH, EDMUND, 138, 139, 140 

How he left the Cabinet, 139 

Vindication of, 139 
RANSTEAD STREET, 85 
RAPIN'S COURT, 47 
"RASSELAS." 10 
RAWDON, LORD, 173 
RAWLE, FRANCIS, 126 
RAWLE, WILLIAM, 123, 125, 126, 127 

Career, 126 
"READY RECKONER," 144 
"RED CITY, THE," 139 

"RED CURTAIN," EATING STAND IN MAR- 
KET, 67 
REDMAN, JOSEPH, ALDERMAN, 5 

One of the lessees of High street wharf, 5 
REDMAN, DR. JOSEPH, 97, 99 
REDMAN, DR. JOHN, 97 
REED, CHARLES, 13 
REED, DEBORAH, 51, 53 
REED, JOHN, 51 
REED, MRS. JOHN, 51, 52 
REED, GENERAL JOSEPH, 107, 115 
REED. WILLIAM B., 115 
REES. JAMES. 169, 170 
REEVES, BENJAMIN, 6, 7 



230 



Index 



BEEVES, ISAAC, 6, 7 
REILY, JOHN, 49 
REINIIOLDT, GEORGE, 80 
REINSTEIN & CO., C. F., 128 
RENSIIAW, WILLIAJI, 154, 155 
REVOLUTION, FRENCH, 9 
REVOLUTION, SONS OP, 102 
RICHARDS, JOHN, 123 

RICHARDSON, SAMUEL, SECOND RICHEST 
MAN IN PHILADELPHIA, 1685, 3 
Owned North Side o£ Market street, 3 
RICHMOND HALL, 21 
RICKETTS, FRANCIS, 160 
RICKETTS, JOHN B., 159, 160 
RIDING ACADEMY, RICKETTS', 159, 160 
RITTENHOUSE, DAVID, 117 
RITTENHOUSE SQUARE, 176 
RITTER, ABRAHAM, -'PHILADELPHIA AND 

HER MERCHANTS," 6 
ROAD BUILDING IN BRITAIN, 1 
ROBERTS, WIDOW, COFFEE HOUSE, 13 
ROBINSON. JONATHAN, 176 
ROCHAMBEAU'S ARMY ENCAMPMENT, 173 
ROCK HILL, BUCKS COUNTY, 127 

"RODERICK RANDOM," 112 

ROGERS, EDWARD, 201 

ROGERS, THOMAS, 201 

ROMANS BUILD HIGHWAYS IN BRITAIN, 2 
Method of constructing highways. 2 

ROOSEVELT. NICHOLAS J., 175 

ROOSEVELT, THEODORE, PRESIDENT, 175 

"RORY O'MORE." 64 

ROSE, AQUILA, 191 
Poems by, 191 

ROSE, JOSEPH, 191 

ROTHERMEL, PETER F.. 181, 182 

RUGGLES, SAMUEL G., CHIEF OP POLICE, 
163 

RUMSEY, JAMES, 143 

RUNDLE, RICHARD. 124 

RUSH, DR. BENJAMIN, 29 

RUSH, WILLIAM. 36, 177 

RUSHTON, DR. THOMAS. 138 

RYAN, JOHN, 38 

RYBOUT, PHILIP, 151 



SACHSE, DR. JULIUS F., 84 
SAVAGE, EDWARD, 109, 153 
SAVAGE, JOHN, 94 

His mansion, 94 
SCHAUMBERG, EMILIE VON (Mrs. Hughes- 

Hallet), 185, 188 
SCHOOLS (see also Germantown Academy and 
Central High School) : 

Mrs. H. Capron's, 54 

Dove's, in Videll's alley, 49 

Public, improved. 167 

Union, Germantown, 33 
SCHUYLKILL BANK FAILURE, 110 
SCOTT, E. ALEXANDER, 135 
SCOTT, THOMAS A., 165, 166 
SCOTT, SIR WALTER, 77 
SECKEL, DAVID, 133, 138 
SECKEL, GEORGE, 133 
SECKEL, LAURENCE, 67, 133, 138 



SECKEL MANSION, 133 
SECKEL PEAR, 67, 133 
SEIXAS. DAVID G., 183 

Founds school for deaf mutes, 183 
SEIXAS, REV. GERSHOM MENDES, 183 
SELLERS, COLEMAN, 98. 144 
SELLERS, GEORGE ESCOL, 97, 98, 99 

Invents process for paper making, 99 

Improvement on locomotives, 99 

Improvement in lead pipe, 99 

Organizes Artists' Sketch Club, 99 
SELERS, J., 201 
SELLERS, JOHN, 97 
SELLERS, NATHAN, 97, 98 

His career, 97, 98 
SELLERS, HORACE WELLS, 97, 98 
SELLERS & PENNOCK, 98, 184 
SIDDONS, T., 62 
SIGNS, SHOP; 

Bible, 13, 26 

Book and Hand, 10 

Golden Head, 39 

Pope's Head, 15 

Sugar Loaf, 39 
SHARPLESS, JESSE, 66 
SHAMBLES, BUTCHERS', 7 
"SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER," 188 
SHEAF, WILLIAM, 193 
SHELTON, MRS., 135 
SHERMAN, ROGER, 120 
SHINN, JOHN, JR., 24 
SHOEMAKER, BENJAMIN, 124 
SHOEMAKER, REBECCA, 124, 141 
SHOEMAKER, SAMUEL. 126, 127 
SHOEMAKER, JACOB, 176 
SHIPPEN, EDWARD, CHIEF JUSTICE, 80, 

81 
SHIPPEN, EDWARD, MAYOR, 1744, SO, 197 
SHIPPEN, COL. JOSEPH, SO, 81 
SHIPPEN, PEGGY, 81, 104 
SHIPPEN MANSION, 104 
SHIPPEN, WILLIAM, SR., 97, 99 
SHUBERT, MICHAEL, 117 
SICARD, ABBE. 89 
SIMMONDS. THOMAS. 85 
SIMPSON, STEPHEN, 25 
SLATE ROOF HOUSE, IS 
SMALL, COLONEL WILLIAM F., 93 
SMITH, REV. DR. WILLIAM, 153 
SMITH, WILLIAM, OF NORTH CAROLINA, 

138 
SMITH, RICHARD PENN, 57 
SMITH, JUSTICE THOMAS, 153 

Sketch of, 153 
SMITHER, JAMES, ENGRAVER, 39 

His career, 39 
SMYTH. LIEUTENANT RICHARD, 197 
SNELLENBURG, N. & CO., 159 
SOPHISTS, THE, 119 
SOUTH ALLEY, 96 
SOUTH ORIANNA STREET, 53, 55 
SOUTH PENN SQUARE, 169 
SPANISH MAIN, 112 
SPARKS, RICHARD, 84 
SPARKS'S LOT, 85 
SPEAKMAN, JOHN, SR.. 21 



Index 



231 



SPEAKMAN, JOHN, JR., 21, 23 

Academy c( Natural Sciences founded In his 
liouse, 23 
SPOTSWOOD, WILLIAM, PRINTER, 62 
SPRING, ARTHUR, 168 
SPRING GARDEN INSTITUTE, 135 
SPRING MILLS, 174, 175 
SPRUCE STREET, 5 
SQUARE, ONE OP EIGHT ACRES IN EACH 

QUARTER OF THE CITY, 1 
ST. JAMES STREET, 99 
STAFFORD, ROBERT S., 20 
STAGES : 

Peter's Line, 135 

Absecon, 6 

Baltimore, 1793, 70 

Harrlsburg, Sunbury and Pittsburgh, 146 

New York, early, 4 

New York, 1785, 69 

New York, 1790, 69, 70 
STANLEY, SUSANNAH, 115 
STANWIX, GENERAL, 80 
STATE HOUSE, PENNSYLVANIA, 42, 109, 

111, 192 
STATE HOUSE YARD, 112 
STEIN JOHN, 81 
STEUART, ANDREW, 30 
STEVENS, JOHN, 143 
STEWART, FRANK H., 117 
STEWART ELECTRIC COMPANY, FRANK 

H., 117 
STEWART, PETER, 30 
STOCKS, 16 
STOICS, THE. 119 
STOKES, JAMES, 13 
STOWERS, JOHN, 36 
STRAWBERRY ALLEY, 31, 39 
STRAWBERRY STREET IN EIGHTEENTH 

CENTURY. 38 
STRAWBRIDGE & CLOTHIER, 138 
STRAYLE, GEORGE, 113 
STRICKLAND, WILLIAM, ARCHITECT, 5 

Draws plan for improvement of water front 
for Paul Beck, 5 
STRUTHERS, JOHN, 154 

Sketch of, 154 
STUART, EDWIN S., GOVERNOR, 144, 181 
STUART, GILBERT, 86 
STUART, GEORGE H., 165 
SUGAR ALLEY, 116, 117 
SULLIVAN & BROTHER, 73, 74 
SULLIVAN, JEREMIAH J., 73 
SULLIVAN, JAMES F., 73 
SULLIVAN, DR. JAMES, 119 
SULLY, LAWRENCE, 86 
SULLY, THOMAS, 85, 86 
SUNDAY, REV. BILLY, 166 
SURIN, STANISLAUS, 169 
SURVILLIERS, COUNT De, 9 
SUTTER, PETER, 38 
SWANN, THOMAS, 180 

SWEET BRIAR, FAIRMOUNT PARK, 138 
SWIFT, COLONEL JOHN, 170 

TALLEYRAND-PERIGORD, CARDINAfi — Bet" 
137 



TAYLOR, EDWARD T., 72 
TAYLOR, SAMUEL, BOOKBINDER, 10 
TEMPLE, MIDDLE, LONDON, 126 
TERNANT, CHEVALIER JEAN De, 159 
TESTAMENT, NEW, FIRST PRINTED HERE 

BY DAVID HALL, 15 
THEATRES : 

Amateur Drawing Room, 185, 188 

Chestnut Street, 20, 83, 180, 183, 189 

Chestnut Street Opera House, 94 

Columbian Garden, 169 

Cross Keys, 201 

Evans Garden, 180 

Fox's American, 94 

Lombardy Garden, 180, 181 

New Olympic, 163 

Prune Street, 169 

Southwark, 49, 67 

Tivoli Garden, 169, 170 

Winter Tivoli, 169 

Vauxhall Garden, 169 
THIRD NATIONAL BANK, 182 
THOMAS, GABRIEL, 22 
THOMSON, CHARLES, TRANSLATION OF 

THE BIBLE, 15 
THOMPSON, J., 135 

THOMPSON, JAMES, INNKEEPER, 69, 70 
TILGHMAN, EDWARD, 126, 175 
TILL STREET, 196 
TILTON, THEODORE, 163 
TOWER HALL, 92, 110 

The Bard of, 92 
TOWN HALL (see Old Court House) : 

Centre of City, 21 

Distances measured from, 21 
TOMLINSON, JACOB, 114 
TOMLINSON, JESSE, 135 
TOWNE, BENJAMIN, 14, 15 

Prints Declaration of Independence, 15 
TRAIL, MARKET STREET FOLLOWS, 191 
TRAQUAIR, JAMES, 151 
■TRAVELER, THE," 10 
TRAVERS, JOHN, 138 
TRAUTWINE, JOHN, 99 
TRENCHARD, JAMES, ENGRA'VER, 62 
TRENTON, BATTLE OF, 49 
TROOST, DR. GERARD, 23 
TURNER, EDWARD, 151 
TURNER, ROBERT, 161 

Letter to William Penn, 161 
TURNER, WILLIAM, 112 
TURNPIKE, FIRST, 199 
TWELFTH STREET, FIRST NAMED BROAD, 

161 
TWINING, THOMAS, 70, 114, 115 

Describes Francis Hotel in 1797, 70 

Visit to Dr. Priestley in 1796, 114 
TWIBILL, THOMAS P., 72 



UMBERGER, JAMES C, 93 
UNION SCHOOL, GERMANTOWN, 33 
UNITED GAS IMPROVEMENT CO., 190, 201 
UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION, 
184 



^-. 



232 



Index 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, 10, 35, 78, 
S3, 94 
Buys "Federal House," 150 
Removes from Fourtb street, 150 
Removes to West Pliiladelphia, 150 

UPPER FERRY ROAD, 197 



VAN BERCKELL, FRANCIS, AMBASSADOR 

FROM HOLLAND, 125 
VAN BCREN, PRESIDENT MARTIN, 71 
VANDERLYN, JOHN, 156 
VALLEY FORGE, 116 
VAN OSTEN, WILLIAM, 135, 136 
VAUGHAN, JOHN, 109 
VAUGHAN, SAMUEL, 109 
VANUXEM, JAMES, 177 
VANUXEM, NANCY, 177 
VENDUE HOUSE, UPPER, 10 
VICTORIA, QUEEN, PORTRAIT OF, BY 

SULLY, 86 
VICTORIEN'S RIDING ACADEMY, 180 
VIDELL'S ALLEY, 49 
"VIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION," RAWLE'S, 

126 
VINE STREET, 5 
VIRGINIA COMMISSIONERS, 179 
VITRUVIUS, 2 
VOLNEY, COUNT De, 137 



WADE, HORATIO, 70, 72 
WAGNER, GENERAL LOUIS, 182 
WALN, JESSE, 176 
WALTER, THOMAS U., 30 
WALTON, ELIZABETH, 39 
WANAMAKER, JOHN, 72, 93, 165, 166 

Introduced to clothing business, 72 

With Llppincott, Taylor & Co., 72 

Works in father's brickyard, 72 

Father takes him to Fort Wayne, Ind., 72 

Death of father, 72 

Goes to Col. Bennett's "Tower Hall," 72 

Employed by Col. Bennett, 93 

Col. Bennett's estimate of him, 93 

Partnership with Nathan Brown, 110 

Opens business at Oak Hall, 110 

Begins advertising, 111 

Purchases freight depot at Thirteenth and 
Market streets, 165 

Gives use of depot to Moody and Sankey, 
166 

Opens Grand Depot, 166 
WANAMAKER & BROWN, 110, 111 

Advertise in City Directory, 111 

Add to original building. 111 

Business, first year. 111 

Increase in five years. 111 
WANAMAKER STORE, 165 
WARNER, BENJAMIN, 74, 75 
WARREN, ANN (Mrs. Merry), 86 
WASHINGTON, GEORGE, 19, 28, 33, 55, 70, 
71, 100, 102, 105, 117, 123, 124, 148, 149, 
160 

Aurora begins attacks on, 55 

Mathew Carey on, 55 



WASHINGTON, GEORGE : 
Spurious letters of, 55 
Duane's pamphlet against, 56 
Preneau bitter against, 100 
Public career passed in Pennsylvania, 101 
Executive mansion, 101, 105 
Description of mansion, 105 
First levee in Philadelphia, 105 
Relations with Randolph, 139 
President, 15 
"Farewell Address," 15 
Last visit to Philadelphia, 1798. 132, 133 
WASHINGTON, CAPITOL AT, 30 
WASHINGTON HALL, 155 
WASHINGTON SQUARE, 176, 178 
WASHINGTON STATUE, 154 
WASHINGTON STREET, 195 
WATER FRONT IMPROVEMENT, 5 
Beck's plan of 1820, 5 
Girard's plan in his will, 5 
WATER STREET ORIGINALLY NAMED 

KING, 4 
WATER SUPPLY, 174, 176 
WATER WORKS, BROAD AND MARKET 

STREETS, 158, 174, 175 
WATSON'S ANNALS, 13, 43, 69, 73, 96, 114 
WATSON, JOHN FANNING, 42, 43, 132, 133 
WATTS, J., HIS "PSALMS OF DAVID, IMI- 
TATED IN THE LANGUAGE OF THE 
NEW TESTAMENT," 52 
WATTS, REV. JOHN, 34 
"WAVERLEY" NOVELS, 64 
WEBSTER, PELETIAH, 33 
WEED, GEORGE, 114 
WEST, BENJAMIN, 39 
WEST, WILLIAM, 103 
WEST CHESTER ROAD, 195 
WEST PHILADELPHIA: 
Borough incorporated, 196 
District of, 196 
"Ordinances," 196 
Described In 1852, 186, 196 
Described in 1840, 196 
WEST PHILADELPHIA ENGINE COMPANY, 

200 
WEST PHILADELPHIA INSTITUTE, 200 
WESTCOTT, THOMPSON, 17, 158, 159 
WESTERN ASSOCIATION OF LADIES, 184 
WESTERN HOME FOR POOR CHILDREN, 

200 
WESTERN PROVIDENT SOCIETY AND 

CHILDREN'S HOME, 200 
WHARF, FIRST ERECTED IN CITY NOT AT 
MARKET STREET, 2 
Samuel Carpenter's erected, 1685, 2 
WHARTON, THOMAS, 59, 60 
WHELEN, ISRAEL, 82, 83, 112, 141 
Commissary-General, 82 

Heads Electoral College of Pennsylvania, 83 
WHIG JUBILEE OF 1834, 193 
WHILLDIN, ALEXANDER, 165 
WHISKEY INSURRECTION, 126, 139 
WHITE, FRANCIS, 113 
WHITE. RT. REV. WILLIAM, BISHOP OF 

PENNSYLVANIA, 81, 88 
WHITE, ROSANNAH, 132 



Index 



233 



WniTEFIELD, REV. GEORGE, 23, 116 
Preaches from Court House balcony, 23 
Heard on Camden side of river, 23 
WHITE HORSE ALLEY, 34, 35 
WHITTLE, JOHN, 151 
WILLS, RICHARD, 149 
WILSON, ANNE ADAMS, 57 
WILSON, JUDGE JAMES, SIGNER OF THE 
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 
122, 123, 125, 141 
WILSON, JAMES: 

Publisher of the Aurora, 34, 57 
Grandfather of President Woodrow Wilson, 

57 
His career, 57 
Marries Anne Adams, 57 
In Franklin's court, 57 
Removes to Ohio, 57 
WILSON, CAPTAIN JOSEPH LAPSLEY, 201 
WILSON, WOODROW, PRESIDENT OF THE 

UNITED STATES, 54, 57 
WISTAR, CASPAR, 43, 47, 48, 73 

(see Wuster) 
WISTAR, DR. CASPAR, 43, 48, 73, 78, 80 
Graduate of Medical School of College of 

Philadelphia, 78 
Receives Doctorate at Edinburgh, 78 
President Royal Society of Medicine, Edin- 
burgh, 78 
Connected with Pennsylvania Hospital, 78 
Professor in Medical School of University of 

Pennsylvania, 78 
Social activities of, 78 
His "Saturday Evenings," 78, 79 
Entertains friends from American Philosoph- 
ical Society, 78 
Entertains Von Humboldt, 79 



WISTAR PARTIES, 78, 79 
WISTAR, RICHARD, 43, 44, 47, 48 
WISTAR, SARAH (MORRIS), 43 
WISTAR, "WIDOW," 72 

Catharine Jansen, 73 
WISTAR & HONIGMACHER, 44 
WISTER, DANIEL, 48 
WISTER, J. C, 113 
WISTER, JOHN, 47, 48 

His family, 47 

His house, 59 
WISTER'S "BIG HOUSE," 48 
WISTER STREET, 48 
WOLCOTT, OLIVER, 140 
WOODLAND AVENUE (see Darby Road) 
WOODLANDS, 180, 196 
WOODS, BORDERING ON MARKET STREET, 

42 (see Governor's Woods) 
WOODSIDE, JOHN A., PAINTER, 70 
WRAY, WILLIAM, 8 
WRIGHT, JOHN, 38 
WRIGLEY, E., 201 

WUSTER, ORIGINAL NAME OF WISTER 
AND WISTAR, 47 

YARNALL, ELLIS, 21 
YELLOW FEVER: 

Epidemic of 1793, 20, 33, 65, 83 

Epidemic of 1797, 29, 59 

Epidemic of 1798, 32, 59 

Epidemic of 1799, 77 

Epidemic of 1819, 6 
YORKE, ANN, 125 
YOUNG, C, 199 

ZANTZINGER, THOMAS B., 115 



^ivy 



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